It’s no secret that many Science Fiction and Mystery writers earned extra money churning out “erotic” novels for publishers like Midwood, Beacon, Nightstand, and Tower back in the 1950s and 1960s. Isaac Asimov, Lawrence Block, Bill Pronzini, and Donald E. Westlake all did it. And, so did Robert Silverberg. Stark House has just reprinted Connie/Meg in a new omnibus edition.

Connie (1959) begins with a tragic incident that sends the young girl across the country to stay with her grandparents in the wake of the terrible event. Connie, only 17-years-old, opts to travel to San Francisco instead staying with her family. Once there, Connie decides to embark on a career as a call-girl. Silverberg presents a sympathy portrait of a confused and anxious girl who makes some Bad Decisions.

In Connie, written under the pseudonym of “Loren Beachamp,” Silverberg shows how easily a young girl’s life can unravel with nightmarish consequences. GRADE: B

Meg (1960) tells the story of a young woman driven to achieve stardom. Meg Tandler from Harmons Glen, Idaho, arrives in New York City determined to be a star like Marilyn Monroe or Jayne Mansfield. But Meg has no acting or dancing experience and finds nothing but rejection at the Auditions she tries out for. Meg meets ancient theatrical agent Max Bonaventura, who is also down on his luck. Max sees something in Meg (mostly her physical presence) and begins to build a career for her. First, Meg wins some beauty contests (by sleeping with the guy running the contests). Next, Max gets Meg some minor film roles, but that gives Meg exposure and leads to plenty of publicity.

The saddest part of Meg for me is the “You Can’t Go Home Again” chapter. Max talks Meg into returning to her family in Idaho for a visit. Meg is “welcomed” with hostility and contempt by her mother who rejects Meg’s use of her sexuality to became a movie star. Meg also discovers, when she returns to Hollywood to achieve even more success, that her life is empty and lonely. Silverberg treats both of his women characters with respect and realism. Both women face desperation and find ways to deal with it. GRADE: B+

In 1999, SONY released what they called the “Soundtrack for the Century” (check out the entire list below). I happened on Rock: The Train Kept a Rollin’ and found it both interesting and frustrating. Are these songs the most representative of the Rock era? There’s a mix of well known songs and more obscure songs. After opening with a couple of Bob Dylan songs–“Subterranean Homesick Blues” and “Mr. Tambourine Man”–the mood changes with The Yardbirds and Moby Grape.

So there’s a mix of well known songs like Springsteen’s “Born to Run” and Sly & The Family Stone’s “I Want To Take You Higher” with groups like Spirit. The song choices for well known groups are also odd. I would not regard “Albatross” by Fleetwood Mac as one of their Big Hits.

Are any of these songs part of your “Soundtrack for the Century”? GRADE: B+

Tracklist:

SONY MUSIC 100 YEARS: SOUNDTRACK FOR A CENTURY Series:

[CD 1] Pop Music: The Early Years 1890-1950, Disc 1
[CD 2] Pop Music: The Early Years 1890-1950, Disc 2
[CD 3] Sony Classical: Great Performances: 1903-1998, Disc 1
[CD 4] Sony Classical: Great Performances: 1903-1998, Disc 2
[CD 5] Sony Classical: Great Performances: 1903-1998, Disc 3
[CD 6] Sony Classical: Great Performances: 1903-1998, Disc 4
[CD 7] Jazz: The Definitive Performances, Disc 1
[CD 8] Jazz: The Definitive Performances, Disc 2
[CD 9] Folk, Gospel & Blues: Will The Circle Be Unbroken, Disc 1
[CD 10] Folk, Gospel & Blues: Will The Circle Be Unbroken, Disc 2
[CD 11] Country: The American Tradition, Disc 1
[CD 12] Country: The American Tradition, Disc 2
[CD 13] Movie Music: The Definitive Performances, Disc 1
[CD 14] Movie Music: The Definitive Performances, Disc 2
[CD 15] Broadway: The Great Original Cast Recordings, Disc 1
[CD 16] Broadway: The Great Original Cast Recordings, Disc 2
[CD 17] Pop Music: The Golden Era: 1951-1975, Disc 1
[CD 18] Pop Music: The Golden Era: 1951-1975, Disc 2
[CD 19] Rock: The Train Kept A Rollin’, Disc 1
[CD 20] Rock: The Train Kept A Rollin’, Disc 2
[CD 21] R&B: From Doo-Wop To Hip-Hop, Disc 1
[CD 22] R&B: From Doo-Wop To Hip-Hop, Disc 2
[CD 23] International Music: Sony Music Around The World, Disc 1
[CD 24] International Music: Sony Music Around The World, Disc 2
[CD 25] Pop Music: The Modern Era: 1976-1999, Disc 1
[CD 26] Pop Music: The Modern Era: 1976-1999, Disc 2

I’ve been a fan of Fredric Brown for nearly 60 years. Brown is one of those unique writers who can write superbly in TWO genres. This collection includes mystery/noir stories and Science Fiction stories.

Fredric Brown’s most famous story, “Arena,” is included in Daymare and Other Tales from the Pulps. A “modified” version of “Arena” became a famous episode of the original Star Trek series. In Brown’s story, a human space pilot is part of a space armada facing an alien space armada. A war is about to begin. The pilot wakes up in a strange area with blue sand and 130 degree heat. Across the room an alien being waits. The two beings are separated by a force field and told by an ultra-powerful force that only one race will survive this competition. Both the human and the alien try various schemes to win the competition. Brown creates plenty of tension and suspense in this classic SF tale.

I’m also a fan of “The Geezenstacks” where a father gives his daughter some strange dolls and discovers what happens to the dolls also happens to the people around the dolls. The title story, “Daymare,” has Philip K. Dick elements of mind control and conspiracy. If you’re looking for a handy introduction to one of the most versatile SF/Mystery writers of the 20th Century, give Daymare and Other Tales from the Pulps a try. GRADE: B+

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Introduction – by John Gregory Betancourt — 7

“Daymare” (Thrilling Wonder Stories, Fall, 1943) — 9

“The Little Lamb” (Manhunt, August, 1953) — 55

“The Geezenstacks” (Weird Tales, September, 1943) — 68

“The Hat Trick” (Unknown, February, 1942) — 79

“Arena” (Astounding, June, 1942) — 86

“Don’t Look Behind You” (Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, May, 1947) — 114

The Father is a grim movie about a man suffering memory loss. Florian Zeller wrote and directed a film where an aging retired engineer ( Sir Anthony Hopkins) lives with his caregiving daughter (Olivia Colman). Anthony shows he’s a difficult man who can be abrasive to the healthcare helpers that his daughter, Anne, hires to help her.

Anthony keeps misplacing his watch and accuses the help for stealing it. Anne finds the watch in a “stash” place where the paranoid Anthony hides his “valuables.” Sir Anthony Hopkins captures the disorientation, frustration, and confusion of dementia. Hopkins’s performance earned him a second Best Actor Oscar and at age 83, Hopkins became the oldest Oscar winner. The Father scored 98% from critics and 91% from the audience on Rotten Tomatoes. This is an excellent movie that will leave you pensive about the aging process. GRADE: A

Robert Gottlieb worked in publishing for most of his life. He started at Simon & Schuster where he edited and published Catch-22, The American Way of Death, The Chosen, and True Grit. Gottlieb then left for Knopf where he published books by John Cheever, Toni Morrison, Doris Lessing, John le Carre, Michael Crichton, Lauren Bacall, Katharine Graham, Robert Caro, Katharine Hepburn, Barbara Tuchman, Nora Ephron, and Bill Clinton. And, Miss Piggy!

In books like the Avid Reader there are usually insights into the writers who produce the best sellers Gottlieb was famous for discovering. While many writers had good relationships with Gottlieb, some did not. Gottlieb writes about toxic times with Roald Dahl. Dahl was demanding and rude to the Knopf staff. As the years went by, Dahl became more erratic and churlish. He threw tantrums and treated secretaries like servants. Finally, Gottlieb had enough and told Dahl to find another publisher.

Another prickly author was Salman Rushdie. Once Rushdie won the Booker Prize, he became more demanding and less cordial. Gottlieb relates a dismaying conversation he had with Rushdie over The Satanic Verses (p. 143).

Avid Reader shows the slow decline of American publishing. Mergers and acquisitions changed the book publishing landscape. Mega-publishers emerged to rule the marketplace. But, Gottlieb was there during the heyday of quality literary publishing. GRADE: A

I have no special knowledge of who will win these Oscars, but here are my best guesses about the results of the weirdest movie year in my lifetime:

BEST PICTURE: Nomadland

BEST DIRECTOR: Chloé Zhao, Nomadland

BEST ACTOR: Chadwick Boseman, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

BEST ACTRESS: Andra Day, The United States vs. Billie Holiday

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Daniel Kaluuya, Judas and the Black Messiah

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Yuh-Jung Youn, Minari

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:

TRACK LIST:

TRACK LIST:

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