Diane, Patrick, and I watched the first of 10 episodes of The Underground Railroad on AMAZON Prime video and plan to compete the series soon. The Underground Railroad is an Alternative Reality series where two slaves escape from their cruel Master and his cotton planation in Georgia. They ride the Underground Railroad (in this TV series the Underground Railroad is presented as a railroad that runs underground) while bounty hunters are in hot pursuit.

The Underground Railroad is directed by Barry Jenkins (best known for Moonlight). The series is based on the novel of the same name by Colson Whitehead (which won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction). I liked Thuso Mbedu as Cora Randall and Aaron Pierre as Caesar. Be prepared for violence and cruelty if you watch The Underground Railroad. GRADE: Incomplete

Vivian Gornick writes insightful reviews and the ones in her new collection, Taking a Long Look, sparkle. In “Herman Melville” Gornick reviews Andrew Delbanco’s Melville: His World and Work by pointing out “…a book saturated in quotations from other readers. On every other page…Lewis Mumford notes, Elizabeth Hardwick observes, Harold Bloom remarks. A rudimentary list of those quoted includes Edward Said, Walker Percy, E. M. Forster, Newton Arvin, W. H. Auden, John Updike, along with the lesser known but influential academics Frank Lentriccia, Richard Slotkin, and Dominic La Capra.” (p. 31-32)

In “Diana Trilling” Gornick focuses on the tragedy of a husband’s betrayal of his wife. No, not a sexual betrayal, but a more insidious act. “She devoted herself to cleaning up her husband’s writing and, quite early, convinced herself that without her his world would never have been fully realized. She was certain that after Lionel died and his manuscripts went public, her contribution to the famous essays would be made known to the world. But then Lionel did die, and she discovered he had destroyed all those drafts with her editing notes on them. Distraught is not the word for what she felt.” (p. 50).

In “James Salter” Gornick focuses on Salter’s erotic novel, A Sport and a Pastime, where women play very narrow roles. “Certainly it is true that most writers have only one story in them–that is, as Flannery O’Connor puts it, only one they can make come alive. Then again, it is also true that it is the writer’s obligation to make the story tell more the third or fourth time around than it did the first. For this reviewer, Salter’s work fails on that score. In his eighties, he tells the story almost exactly as he told it in his forties.” (p. 76)

Vivian Gornick ranges far and wide in her book reviews and her articles on cultural figures. If you’re looking for an intelligent series of articles full of ideas and analysis, I recommend you take a long look at Gornick’s new book. GRADE: A

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Introduction vii

Literature 1

1 Lore Segal 3

2 Alfred Kazin 14

3 Herman Melville 23

4 Kathleen Collins 35

5 Diana Trilling 46

6 Mary McCarthy 56

7 James Salter 70

8 Edna St. Vincent Millay 77

9 The Reading Group 84

Culture 91

10 Uncle Tom’s Cabin 93

11 Rachel Carson 100

12 Justice: What’s the Right Thing to Do? 110

13 Primo Levi 120

14 Hannah Arendt 131

15 Erich Fromm 140

16 The Americanization of Narcissism 151

17 The Second Sex at Fifty 160

Two New York Stories 169

18 On the Bus 171

19 Bobby’s Salon 178

Essays in Feminism 193

20 Consciousness 195

21 On Trial for Acting like a Man 225

22 The Women’s Movement in Crisis 234

23 Why Do these Men Hate Women? 245

24 Toward a Definition of the Female Sensibility 260

Acknowledgments 287

I saw a CBS interview with the owner of Sfoglini Pasta, Dan Pashman, who designed this new form of pasta and claimed his pasta held the sauce better than conventional pasta. He designed this pasta form conforming to these criteria:

• Sauceability: How readily sauce adheres to the shape
• Forkability: How easy it is to get the shape on your fork and keep it there
• Toothsinkability: How satisfying it is to sink your teeth into it

Katie ordered some Sfoglini Cascatelli and brought a box home for us to try.

My favorite pasta is DeCecco, but I gave the Sfoglini Cascatelli pasta a try. First of all, Cascatelli is squiggly. It reminded me of Cthulhu’s tentacles. The Cascatelli prep instructions call for boiling it for 17 minutes. The result is a pasta that is firm. Yes, it holds the sauce nicely and it’s easy to spear with your fork. I liked the texture. But, I still prefer the flavor of DeCecco pasta. Notice taste is not one of Pashman’s criteria. What’s your favorite pasta?

GRADE: SFOGLINI CASCATELLI – B

GRADE: DECECCO – A

Patrick decided out WIFI was too slow so he ordered the Eero 6 Dual-Band Mesh WIFI System. Patrick installed it in minutes and we saw a big difference in speed right away. Our old router from Netgear was almost 10 years old.

The eero 6 can handle speeds up to 500 Mbps and covers up to 3000 square feet. Our house is 2400 square feet so this works out well. No more dead spots and buffering!

Do you need some new computer equipment?

I’ve been a fan of Mike Ashley’s anthologies for the British Library (you can read my reviews here, here, here, and here). Yesterday’s Tomorrows: The Story of Science Fiction in 100 Books (2020) has a misleading title. It’s the story of SF in the UK from the late Nineteenth Century to the mid-Twentieth Century. I confess that dozens of these titles–especially the early books–were all new to me. Of course, once Ashley gets to the 1940s, more and more titles are familiar. I’m hoping Ashley produces another volume that continues the history of British SF from the mid-1960s to date. How many of these titles do you recognize? How many of these books have you read? GRADE: A

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS — 10

INTRODUCTION: The Start of It All — 11

I. WELLS, WELLS, WELLS AGAIN — 21

1. The Time Machine H. G. Wells (1895) — 23
2. The War of the Worlds H. G. Wells (1898) — 26
3. When the Sleeper Wakes H. G. Wells (1899) — 28
4. The Country of the Blind and Other Stories H. G. Wells (1911) — 31

II. WARS TO END ALL WARS — 33

5. The Outlaws of the Air George Griffith (1895) — 36

6. The Invasion of 1910 William Le Queue (1906) — 38

7. When William Came Saki (1913) — 40

8. The Struggle for Empire Robert W. Cole (1900) — 42

III. DOOM AND DISASTER — 45

9. Crack of Doom Robert Cromie (1895) — 46

10. The Violet Flame Fred T. Jan (1899) — 48

11. The Purple Cloud M. P. Shiel (1901) — 50

12. The Machine Stops E. M. Forster (1909) — 53

IV. FUTURE’S NEAR AND FAR — 55

13. The Napoleon of Notting Hill G.K. Chesterton (1904) — 57

14. With the Night Mail Rudyard Kipling (1909) — 59

15. The Night Land William Hope Hodgson (1912) — 62

16. The Elixir of Life or 2905 A.D. Herbert Gubbins (1914) — 65

V. THE OLD AND THE NEW — 69

17. The Hampdenshire Wonder J. D. Beresford (1911) — 71

18. The Lost World Arthur Conan Doyle (1912) — 74

VI. ESCAPE OR REALITY? — 77

19. A Drop in Infinity Gerold Grogon (1915) — 79

20. The Terror Arthur Machen (1916) — 82

21. The New Moon Oliver Onions (1918) — 84

22. Meccania, The Super State Owen Gregory (1918) — 86

23. When the World Shook H. Rider Haggard (1919) — 89

24. A Voyage to Arcturus David Lindsay (1920) — 92

VII. BRAVE NEW WORLDS — 97

25. The People of the Ruins Edward Shanks (1920) — 99

26. The Secret Power Maria Carelli (1921) — 101

27. Theodore Savage Cicely Hamilton (1922) — 104

28. Number 87 Harrington Text (1922) — 106

29. Nordenholt’s Million J. J. Connington (1923) — 108

30. Ultimatum Victor MacClure (1924) — 110

31. Menace from the Moon Bohun Lynch (1925) — 112

32. Man’s World Charlotte Haldone (1926) — 115

33. To-morrow Alfred Ollivant (1927) — 117

34. Concrete Aalfrida Tillyard (1930) — 120

VIII. SUPER, SUB OR NON-HUMAN? — 125

35. The Blue Germ Martin Swayne (1918) — 128

36. Back to Methuselah George Bernard Shaw (1921) — 130

37. The Cheetah Girl Christopher Blayre (1923) — 134

38. The Clockwork Man E. V. Odle (1923) — 136

39. The Collapse of Homo Sapiens P. Anderson Graham (1923) — 139

40. The Last of My Race J. Lional Taylor (1924) — 142

41. The Amphibians S. Fowler Wright (1925) — 143

42. The Emperor of the If Guy Dent (1926) — 147

43. The Man with Six Senses Muriel Jaeger (1927) — 150

44. Kontrol Edmund Small (1928) — 153

45. The Ant Heap Edward Knoblock (1929) — 155

46. Brain Lionel Britton (1930) — 157

47. The Seventh Bowl Miles (Stephen Southwold) (1930) — 160

48. Brave New World Aldous Huxley (1932) — 163

IX. PHILOSOPHICAL SPECULATIONS — 169

49. The World, the Flesh and the Devil J. D. Bernal (1929) — 171

50. If It had Happened Otherwise J. C. Squire (1931) — 173

X. INTO THE COSMIC — 177

51. To-morrow’s Yesterday John Gloag (1932) — 181

52. Gay Hunter J. Leslie Mitchell (1934) — 182

53. Adrift in the Stratosphere A. M. Low (serial 1934; book 1937) — 184

54. Planet Plane John Beynon (1936) — 187

55. Crisis!–1992 Benson Herbert (1936) — 191

56. Star Maker Olaf Stapledon (1937) — 193

57. Out of the Silent Planet C. s. Lewis (1938) — 195

58. Sinister Barrier Eric Frank Russell (1939) — 197

XI. PREPARING FOR WAR — 201

59. Lost Horizon James Hilton (1933) — 203

60. The Peacemaker C. S. Forester (1934) — 206

61. The Strange Invaders Alan Llewellyn (1934) — 208

62. Land Under England James O’Neill (1935) — 210

63. Women Alive Susan Ertz (1935) — 212

64. Swastika Night Murray Constantine (1937) –215

65. The Hopkins Manuscript R. C. Sherriff (1939) — 217

XII. OUR DARKEST HOURS — 221

66. The Twenty-Fifth Hour Herbert Best (1940) — 224

67. Loss of Eden Douglas Brown & Christopher Sarpell (1940) — 225

68. Secret Weapon Bernard Newman (1942) — 228

69. The Golden Amazon John Russell Fearn (1944) — 230

70. Four-Sided Triangle William F. Temple (1949) — 232

XIII. POST-ATOMIC DOOM — 235

71. Death of a World J. Jefferson Farjean (1948) — 238

72. Nineteen Eight-Four George Orwell (1949) — 239

73. Time Marches Sideways Ralph L. Finn (1950) — 242

74. The Day of the Triffids John Wyndham (1951) — 244

75. The Last Revolution Lord Dunsany (1951) — 246

76. The Sound of His Horn Sarban (1952) — 248

77. The Magicians J. B. Priestley (1954) — 250

XIV. SCIENCE FICTION BOOM — 253

78. The Quatermass Experiment Nigel Knele (TV, 1953; book 1959) — 256

79. Journey Into Space Charles Chilton (radio, 1953; book 1954) — 258

80. Childhood’s End Arthur C. Clarke (1953) — 260

81. The Echoing Worlds Jonathan Burke (1954) — 264

82. One in Three Hundred J. T. McIntosh (1954) — 266

83. Alien Dust E. C. Tubb (1955) — 268

84. City Under the Sea Kenneth Bulmer (1957) — 271

85. Non-Stop Brian W. Aldiss (1958) — 273

86. Deadly Image (aka, The Uncertain Midnight ) Edmund Cooper (1958) — 276

87. Hospital Station James White (1962) — 278

88. Calculated Risk Charles Eric Maine (1960) — 280

89. A for Andromeda Fred Hoyle & John Elliot (TV, 1961; book 1962) — 282

XV. OLD WORLDS FOR NEW — 287

90. Facial Justice — L. P. Hartley (1960) — 289

91. The Drowned World J. G. Ballard (1962) — 291

92. The World in Winter John Christopher (1962) — 294

93. Memoirs of a Spacewoman Naomi Mitchison (1962) — 296

94. Telepath Arthur Sellings (1962) — 298

95. To Conquer Chaos John Brunner (1964) — 300

96. The Dark Mind Colin Kapp (1964) — 303

97. Doctor Who David Whitaker (1964) — 305

98. FROOMB! John Lymington (1964) — 308

99. The Sundered Worlds Michael Moorcock (1965) — 310

100. The Garbage World Charles Platt (1966) — 313

Select Bibliography — 317

Acknowledgements — 319

Index — 321

Back in the 1990s, VH1 and MTV issued compilation CDs with various themes. VH-1 8-TRACK FLASHBACK: THE ONE-HIT WONDERS presents a variety of “hits” by performers and groups who had their moment in the sun…and then faded away. Do you remember these songs? Any favorites? GRADE: B

TRACK LIST:

1	Wild Cherry–	Play That Funky Music
2	Shocking Blue–	Venus
3	Terry Jacks–	Seasons In The Sun
4	Starland Vocal Band–	Afternoon Delight
5	Climax (6)–	Precious And Few
6	Ocean (3)–	Put Your Hand In The Hand
7	George McCrae–	Rock Your Baby
8	Mungo Jerry–	In The Summertime
9	Looking Glass–	Brandy (You’re A Fine Girl)
10	Vicki Sue Robinson–	Turn The Beat Around
11	Amii Stewart–	Knock On Wood
12	Gary Glitter–	Rock & Roll Part 2
13	Anita Ward–	Ring My Bell
14	Alicia Bridges–	I Love The Nightlife (Disco ‘Round)
15	Thelma Houston–	Don’t Leave Me This Way
16	David Essex–	Rock On

Here is another volume in the SCIENCE FICTION COLLECTION series by the Science Fiction Book Club. PRESS ENTER was first published in 1984 and this edition with David G. Hartwell’s excellent Introduction was published in 1997. John Varley’s PRESS ENTER is a NEBULA WINNER from 1984 and a HUGO WINNER from 1985.

Press Enter is a story ahead of its time. Written in the early 1980s when cyber technology was crude, this story anticipates the sinister aspects of computers and Artificial Intelligence. When Korean War veteran, Victor Apfel, discovers his neighbor, Charles Kluge, has died and bequeathed a significant inheritance to him, he’s suspicious. But the Los Angeles Police Department is satisfied that Kluge died by suicide. Yet an investigation by Caltech computer expert Lisa Foo reveals that Kluge was hacking  into dangerous, secretive government agencies who may have been involved in his death. Following Kluge’s trail exposes Apfel and Foo to potentially the same fate that Kluge encountered.

With the current crisis with hackers shutting down the oil pipeline (which is sending gas prices skyward!), it’s astonishing Varley anticipated this kind of computer menace nearly 40 years ago!

When I first read PRESS ENTER in 1984, I was blown away by John Varley’s story. But I was also outraged–like many fans were–with the story’s conclusion. Nonetheless, PRESS ENTER is one of those dazzling SF stories that successfully predicts the Future. GRADE: A

I’ve been a fan of revenge books and movies since I read Brian Garfield’s novel Death Wish in 1972 and saw the Charles Bronson movie of the same name from 1974. Bronson decides to seek revenge on criminals after his family is attacked.

Carey Mulligan plays Cassie Thomas, a 30-year-old medical school dropout who works in a coffee shop and lives with her parents.  Cassie dropped out of med school after her best friend, Nina, was gang raped by fellow students. The crime was reported, but nothing was done.

Cassie now goes to bars and pretends she’s drunk. Men take Cassie home and try to have sex with her, but Cassie confronts them and ruins their plans.

Emerald Fennell, who wrote and directed Promising Young Woman, puts Cassie in danger. She makes risky decisions. But, when Cassie learns the truth about her boyfriend, and comes into possession of a key bit of evidence about the rape, she goes into full revenge mode. Promising Young Woman is a powerful movie that stay with you days after you’ve watched it. GRADE: B+

Michael Lewis follows a group of healthcare professionals who discovered the Pandemic before any of the Government agencies did. My favorite character is Charity Dean, a gifted California health official, who recognizes the threat of the Covid-19 virus way before the Centers for Disease Control had it on their radar. And Dr. Dean takes action, which the CDC avoids.

I also admire Richard Hatchett and Carter Mecher, who were part of the pandemic planning team under the George W. Bush administration and continued to work on pandemic preparedness under the Obama administration. John Bolton, Trump’s national security advisor, fired Tom Bossert (the Homeland Security Advisor) and demoted or fired everyone on the biological threat team (p. 163). After that, the Trump Administration had no contingency plans for pandemics.

Michael Lewis shows how a country with advanced medicine and vast health resources completely failed to protect its citizens from the coronavirus. New estimates claim close to a million Americans died from Covid-19. Joe DeRisi, a brilliant biologist, estimated that the U.S. should have lost 180,000 if all the pandemic preparations had been put into practice. Obviously, they weren’t.

The Premonition is in some ways a sequel to Lewis’s last book, The Fifth Risk (you can read my review here). In The Fifth Risk Lewis showed how Trump loaded the Federal agencies with political hacks and incompetent staff. Lewis predicted that when things would go wrong, the Federal Government would be inept at meeting the challenges. Lewis was right.

The Premonition is the best non-fiction book I’ve read in 2021. It’s funny, it’s sad, and it’s real. I highly recommend it. GRADE: A

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Introduction: The missing Americans — xii

PART 1

Prologue: The looking glass — 3

ONE: Dragon — 10

TWO: The making of a public-health officer — 23

THREE: The pandemic thinker — 50

FOUR: Stopping the unstoppable — 78

FIVE: Clairvoyance — 112

PART 2

SIX: The red phone — 135

SEVEN: The redneck epidemiologist — 160

EIGHT: In Mann Gulch — 186

NINE: The L6 — 209

PART 3

TEN: The bug in the system — 241

ELEVEN: Plastic flowers — 270

EPILOGUE: The sin of omission — 297

Acknowledgments –303