Michael Swanwick has won Hugo Awards and Nebula Awards and is considered one of the best Science Fiction writers. I’ve been a fan of Swanwick’s Darger and Surplus short stories and now Subterranean Press has collected them and published this wonderful collection.

Aubrey Darger is a con artist who can blend into any group. His partner, Sir Blackthorpe Ravenscairn de Plus Preieux (aka, Surplus), is a genetically modified dog with a keen intelligence–and talks. This unlikely duo might remind you of Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser (without the swords) given their tendencies toward larceny and adventures. The setting is the Future where the survivors of a brutal war between Artificial Intelligences and humanity live in a steampunk world where technology is feared (with good reason).

In these stories, Darger and Surplus scheme their way into Buckingham Palace and create havoc, fall in love (with disastrous consequences), and are captured by a living hotel. If you’re in the mood of something completely different, THE POSTUTOPIAN ADVENTURES OF DARGER AND SURPLUS delivers escapist fun. GRADE: A

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Introduction:

• Mother Goose’s Errant Sons 9

Stories:

• The Dog Said Bow-Wow 15
• The Little Cat Laughed to See Such Sport 39
• Girls and Boys, Come Out to Play 63
• Tawny Petticoats 99
• There Was An Old Woman 139
• Appendix:

• Introduction to Appendix: A Little Smoke and a Mirror or Three 175
• Smoke and Mirrors: Four Scenes from the Postutopian Future 181

I loved watching The Twilight Zone as a kid. But I really enjoyed Rod Serling’s Night Gallery, too. I recognized some of the episodes right away because I had read the stories by H. P. Lovecraft, C. M. Kornbluth, and Fritz Leiber that the episodes were based on. Take a look at the Table of Contents and you’ll see some familiar authors and stories.

The Introduction by Carol Serling extolls her husband’s love of horror and the supernatural. And, Carol Serling discusses the projects cut short by Rod Serling’s untimely death at the age of 50 after heart surgery in 1975.

How many of these stories do you recognize. Were you a fan of Night Gallery? GRADE: A

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

• x – Introduction – Carol Serling
• 1 – The Escape Route – Rod Serling – na The Season to be Wary, Little Brown: Boston, 1967
• 71 – The Dead Man – Fritz Leiber – nv Weird Tales Nov ’50
• 104 – The Little Black Bag – C. M. Kornbluth – nv Astounding Jul ’50
• 138 – The House – André Maurois – vi Harper’s Jun ’31
• 141 – The Boy Who Predicted Earthquakes – Margaret St. Clair – ss Maclean’s, 1950
• 152 – The Academy – David Ely – ss Playboy Jun ’65
• 163 – The Devil Is Not Mocked – Manly Wade Wellman – ss Unknown Jun ’43
• 171 – Brenda – Margaret St. Clair – ss Weird Tales Mar ’54
• 184 – Big Surprise [“What Was in the Box”] – Richard Matheson – ss EQMM Apr ’59
• 191 – House—with Ghost – August Derleth – ss Lonesome Places, Arkham: Sauk City, WI, 1962
• 199 – The Dark Boy – August Derleth – ss F&SF Feb ’57
• 215 – Pickman’s Model – H. P. Lovecraft – ss Weird Tales Oct ’27
• 230 – Cool Air – H. P. Lovecraft – ss Tales of Magic and Mystery Mar ’28; Weird Tales Sep ’39
• 240 – Sorworth Place [“Old Place of Sorworth”; Ralph Bain] – Russell Kirk – nv London Mystery #14 ’52
• 261 –The Return of the Sorcerer – Clark Ashton Smith – ss Strange Tales of Mystery and Terror in September 1931
• 279 – The Girl with the Hungry Eyes – Fritz Leiber – ss The Girl With the Hungry Eyes, ed. Donald A. Wollheim, Avon, 1949
• 297 – The Horsehair Trunk – Davis Grubb – ss Colliers May 25 ’46; ; as “The Secret Darkness”, EQMM Oct ’56
• 308 – The Ring with the Velvet Ropes – Edward D. Hoch – ss With Malice Toward All, ed. Robert L. Fish, Putnam, 1968

This is the strangest set of music compilation CDs I own. If you look at the various Track Lists, you’ll see what I mean. The songs are from various eras of Rock-and-Roll, various styles, some obscure groups, odd choices, and strange combinations of songs/artists. The accompanying documentation goes into some detail about how these songs came about: songwriters, producers, etc.

The “concept” behind this series was to take songs from the Columbia Records and Epic Records vaults and remix and remaster the sound. Several of these songs appear in true stereo for the first time on these discs. The choices seem bizarre to me, but there are some gems here. And, the sound is fabulous! These buffed up songs are all spiffed up for new audiences.

Do you recognize these songs? Any favorites here? GRADE: B+

Tracklist: Volume 1

Tracklist: Volume 2

Tracklist: Volume 3

Tracklist: Volume 4

Season Two of What We Do in the Shadows delivers more dark humor than the First Season. The premise is that a group of vampires resides in a house in Staten Island, New York. This American mockumentary comedy horror television series was created by Jemaine Clemen and features Nandor (a warrior vampire hundreds of years old), Laszlo, and Nadja (a romantically linked vampire couple); Colin Robinson, an energy vampire (who drains people of their energy instead of their blood); and Guillermo, Nandor’s familiar, who is secretly a Vampire Killer. 

The fun of this series revolves around the vampires trying to adjust to contemporary society and technology. Guillermo (Harvey Guillén), assists the group in hopes Nandor (Kayvan Novak) will turn him into a vampire. Laszlo (Matt Berry) and Nadja (Natasia Charlotte Demetriou) provide romantic interests, but they also have roguish natures that take them into unusual situations. Colin Robinson (Mark Proksch), the world’s most boring vampire, cunningly drains energy in many comic settings. I particularly enjoyed the episode where Colin tracks down an Internet troll.

Clearly, dark humor may not be the genre people want to indulge in during the Age of the Coronavirus. But, for something completely different and funny (at least to me), I recommend this quirky series. GRADE: A

In these dystopian times, it’s always comforting to think “It could always be worse.” Worse, in this case, are two Mad Max movies: The Road Warrior and Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome. Civilization has collapsed and anarchy rules.

In The Road Warrior Mad Max, played my Mel Gibson, reluctantly helps an lonely colony surrounded by a savage biker gang. In Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome we’re treated to Tina Turner running a gladiatorial arena complete with chainsaws! Yes, the coronavirus pandemic is bad, but these Futures are much, much worse!

Are we facing the End Times as some of our religious friends warn us? Are things going to get better…or worse? Should we all start practicing our chainsaw skills? GRADE: B+ (for both movies)

Despite the murky cover artwork, this latest full-blown Murderbot novel by Martha Wells expands the character of the rogue SecUnit when it’s kidnapped by a familiar space transport. The transport goes through a wormhole in record time (later revealed as assisted by an alien remanent) to an abandoned colony on a forgotten planet.

Murderbot juggles several conflicting missions: protect the team he’s associated with including a difficult adolescent girl, defend the transport from the raiders, restore its pilot, and discover why it was kidnapped in the first place.

As in the previous four Murderbot novels (you can read my reviews here, here, here, and here) there’s plenty of action. But the attraction of these books–for me at least–is the attempt of an Artificial Intelligence to adapt to a human environment. Martha Wells does a masterful job capturing the strangeness and the frustration of a robot trying to protect its clients while trying to solve the mysteries of the situation.

My only quibble with Network Effect is that Martha Wells assumes you’ve read the previous four books and remember the characters and details she’s provided in those novels. Starting with Network Effect might cause confusion for some readers. I can’t wait for the next book in this series! GRADE: A–

I’m a fan of these DC Animated movies. In this latest feature, Justice League Dark: Apokolips War the Justice League is tricked by Darkseid and the results are disastrous. Darkseid turns Batman into a minion. The Earth is being mined by Darkseid’s machinery into ruin. And Superman’s powers are suppressed by liquid Kryptonite. Things look grim.

Surprisingly, magic comes to the fore in this movie. John Constantine joints Raven (from Teen Titans) to use their combined powers to change the trajectory of doom.

If you’re a fan of the Justice League and the magic elements of the DC Universe, you’ll enjoy Justice League Dark: Apokolips War. GRADE: B

SPECIAL FEATURES:

DC Showcase: Adam Strange (Animated Short) – On an asteroid mining colony, mysterious drifter Adam Strange is dismissed as an interplanetary derelict. But when the miners open a fissure into the home of a horde of deadly alien insects, his true identity is exposed. He is space adventurer Adam Strange, whose heroic back-story is played out in flashbacks as he struggles to save the very people who have scorned him for so long.

Darkseid: New God/Evil Classic (New Featurette) – This documentary explores the machinations of one of fiction¹s greatest Super Villains as we learn more about what fuels Darkseid’s drive

Filmmaker Audio Commentary – Observations and behind-the-scenes insight from Executive Producer James Tucker, Directors Matt Peters and Christina Sotta, and Screenwriter Ernie Altbacker.

Look Back: Justice League Dark (Featurette) – John Constantine leads a group of misfit characters that use magic to vanquish their opponents. This is the dark version of the Justice League taking on the malevolent forces that go beyond our plane of existence.

Look Back: Batman and Harley Quinn

From the DC Vault: Justice League Action, “Zombie King”

From the DC Vault: Justice League Action, “Abate and Switch”

From the DC Comics Vault: Teen Titans, “Nevermore”

A Sneak Peek at the next DC Universe Movie, Superman: Man of Tomorrow

Guillermo del Toro’s eloquent Foreward to Ray Russell’s Haunted Castles: The Complete Gothic Stories praises this winner of both the World Fantasy Award and the Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement. And, so does Stephen King, who called “Sardonicus” as “perhaps the finest example of the modern gothic ever written.”

The stories included in this collection represent the skillful application of fear and dread to modern life. In his Gothic “S” trilogy–“”Sardonicus” (1961), “Sagittarius” (1962), and “Sanguinarius” (1967)–capture the extreme emotions generated when dealing with the bizarre. This volume brings together some of Ray Russell’s best work. And, who can resist the marvelous cover artwork by Lola Dupre? GRADE: A

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Foreward:
Haunted Castles, Dark Mirrors: On the Penguin Horror Series by Guillermo Del Toro xi

“Sardonicus” (1961) 1
“Sagittarius” (1962) 55
“Sanguinarius” (1967) 109
“Comet Wine” (1967) 163
“The Runaway Lovers” (1967) 191
“The Vendetta” (1969) 207

“The Cage” (1959) 225

I’ve been listening to a lot of music lately and stumbled across this 2-CD set from the 1970s. One-Hit Wonders make a quick splash and then are rarely heard of again. Sometimes they are “gimmick” songs like Carl Douglas’ “Kung Fu Fighting” and “In the Summertime” by British group Mungo Jerry. Others are rough drafts of songs that become much bigger hits when done by other groups and artists. A good example of this is “Turn the Beat Around” by Vicki Sue Robinson which was redone and released by Gloria Estefan. It became a big hit.

So, it’s hit or miss with this collection of songs. Do you see any favorites here? GRADE: B

DISC 1:

DISC 2: