Bill Crider is best known for his Sheriff Dan Rhodes series. But Bill was a versatile writer and would occasionally branch out into other characters and settings. One of my favorite Bill Crider series is the Professor Sally Good series.

Dr. Sally Good, chair of the Department of English at Hughes Community College, just violated one of the major rules for department chairs: never date the staff. Of course Sally hadn’t actually dated Jack Neville, but she had said yes when he asked her to go out with him.

Dating is put on hold as Jack Neville comes under suspicion of murdering one of the college trustees, and faces arrest. Sally plunges into the investigation to clear Jack.

If you’re a fan of Sheriff Dan Rhodes, you’l also enjoy the antics of Professor Sally Good. Bill Crider was the Head of the Department of English at a community college so all the problems and difficulties Sally faces ring true! GRADE: B+

Professor Sally Good series:

• Murder Is An Art (St. Martin’s, 1999)
• A Knife in the Back (St. Martin’s, 2002)
• A Bond with Death (St. Martin’s, 2004)

Classic Rock Gold (2005) presents a variety of music from oddities like Jethro Tull’s “Locomotive Breath” to more well known hits like Blue Oyster Cult’s “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper.” I’m fond of Golden Earring’s “Radar Love” with Brenda Lee “Comin’ On Strong.”

Included in this 2-CD set is one of my favorite songs by The Cars, “Just What I Needed.” That’s a song I replay a lot!

Our local NHL hockey team uses The Scorpions’ “Rock You Like a Hurricane” for their intro music to their on-air TV broadcasts.

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

TRACK LIST:

Jan Carson is an Irish writer and Quickly, While They Still Have Horses (2024) is her first book published in North America. After reading these 16 short stories, my opinion of Carson’s work is “unsettling.” Take the first story in the book, “A Certain Degree of Ownership,” for example. A distracted couple on a deserted beach don’t notice their baby is crawling towards the ocean.

In “Grand So,” a car is haunted by the ghost of its previous owner who lurks in the backseat. A confused father loses his two sons in an adventure park in “Fair Play.”

I was most affected by the title story, “Quickly, While They Still Have Horses.” A man deals with a difficult woman who only seems to like horses. Also troubling is “Victor Soda” where residents of a small village send their virgin daughters to an older man for sex education before they are to be married.

If you’re in the mood for some dark stories set in Ireland, give Quickly, While They Still Have Horses a try. GRADE: B-

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

1. A Certain Degree of Ownership — 1
2. Grand So — 7
3. Fair Play — 21
4. 4. Tinged — 41
5. 5. Quickly, While They Still Have Horses — 53
6. 6. Victor Soda — 67
7. 7. Pillars — 91
8. 8. Jellyfish — 103
9. 9. Mostly People Just Throw Bricks — 119
10. 10. Bat McElhatton Learns to Drive — 141
11. 11. Caravan — 159
12. 12. Troubling the Water — 175
13. 13. In the Car with the Rain Coming Down — 187
14. 14. One-Hander — 211
15. 15. Coasters — 231
16. 16. Family Circle — 253
17. A Note on Previously Published Stories — 265
18. Acknowledgments — 267
19. About the Author — 271

Only Murders in the Building, Season 4 begins tonight on HULU. Diane and I have enjoyed the first three seasons. For those of you new to this TV season, three residents who are obsessed with solving crimes work together when they’re faced with real murders in the New York City building they live in, The Arconia. Now the Arconia’s silly murder-solving trio is back with more crimes to solve.

Season 4 starts with an episode where Mabel (Selena Gomez), Charles (Steve Martin), and Oliver (Martin Short) are heading to Los Angeles. A Hollywood studio is making plans to turn their podcast into a film, while dealing with the shocking murder of Charles’ stunt double and friend Sazz Patak (Jane Lynch), who was murdered in the last episode of Season 3. Can’t wait to see all 10 episodes of this new season!

Are you a fan of Only Murders in the Building?

Summer of 1982 Science Fiction/Fantasy movies:

1. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (Universal): $359.2 million
2. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (Paramount): $78.9 million
3. Poltergeist (MGM): $76.6 million
4. Conan the Barbarian (Universal): $76.6 million
5. Tron (Disney): $33 million
6. Blade Runner (Warner Brothers): $27.6 million
7. The Road Warrior (Warner Brothers): 23.7 million
8. The Thing (Universal): 19.9 million. (p. 242-243): 

“The results for 1982 are now in: The year was a box-office bonanza for movie-makers. More than $3.4 billion worth of tickets were sold across the country, a box-office record.” –Aljean Harmetz, New York Times (p. 246)

Chris Nashawaty’s The Future Was Now: Madmen, Mavericks, and the Epic Sci-Fi Summer of 1982 takes a deep dive into the eight movies Nashawaty claims set the movie industry on a whole new course. Nashawaty writes about how these films got to be made despite some long odds.

Steven Spielberg, at the height of his powers, conceives E.T. as an unusual family tale–and is initially rejected by Columbia’s Frank Price. Then Spielberg takes over the troubled production of Poltergeist, a horror film he had been working on for years. More problems.

Ridley Scott, with his success with Alien, jumps at the opportunity to tackle a Philip K. Dick story that becomes Blade Runner-a box office failure that became a cult classic. But the production was a nightmare.

Nashawaty’s stories of how films like Tron, Conan the Barbarian, and The Thing got made are also fascinating.. Since these three films were “outside the box” the directors faced endless complaints and problems from film executives.

Nashawaty argues these films presented a fabulous turning-point in Hollywood history. The market for high-concept films, rabid fanbases, incredible merchandising potential, and the prospect of endless sequels. If you’re interested in Hollywood movie history, The Future Was Now reveals plenty of secrets! How many of the Nashawaty’s eight films have you seen? GRADE: A

“Indeed it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.…” Winston Churchill

Substitute “capitalism” for “democracy” and “economic system” for “Government” and that quote is still valid. You might remember Ben Stein has a deadpan comedian with many Late Night show appearances. Stein is also a big believer in the positive power of Capitalism to improve our lives.

Ben Stein began his career as a speechwriter for Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford before entering the entertainment field as an actor, comedian, and game show host. Stein is best known on screen as the economics teacher in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, as the host of Win Ben Stein’s Money, and as Dr. Arthur Neuman in The Mask and Son of the Mask. Stein’s love for Capitalism makes sense once you know he’s the son of famous economist and writer Herbert Stein, who worked at the White House under President Nixon. 

While The Capitalist Code: It Can Save Your Life and Make You Very Rich! (2017) is basically a Love Letter to Capitalism, I have some reservations with Stein’s passion for an economic system that can create vast inequalities–as we see today.

For Capitalism to work optimally, there needs to be an educated populous, a free and fair legal system, and a political system that regulates the excesses (like price-gouging and price fixing) that greedy capitalists resort to when unchecked. We have none of those aspects working correctly right now. That’s why we have so many Food Banks and homeless people and billionaires who pay no income taxes.

Despite my skepticism of Ben Stein’s little book, I did like his quoting of business leaders. My favorite quote from The Capitalist Code: It Can Save Your Life and Make You Very Rich! is “An idiot with a plan can beat a genius without a plan.” Warren Buffett said that and it is very true. GRADE: C+

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Dedication — vii

Acknowledgments — ix

Chapter One: Never Too Early for the Truth — 1

Chapter Two; How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Capitalism — 17

Chapter Three; The Pre-Dad Class — 31

Chapter Four; A Glory of Life — 61

Chapter Five; The Belly of the Capitalist Pig — 105

Chapter Six; Conclusion — 117

Final Note — 123

Appendix A — 125

Appendix B — 133

Glossary — 137

Further Reading — 147

Index — 151

About the Author — 161

Consider The Warden (2023) and its sequel, Necrobane (2024), one continuous novel. In fact, Necrobane picks up right where The Warden leaves off. No Summary or precis, just a continuation of the events of the first novel.

Warden Aelis de Lenti un Tirraval, a young woman who had just graduated from the Magisters’ Lyceum with degrees in various schools of Magic, is assigned to protect the small village of Lone Pine near the dangerous border. Aelis is smart and confident…perhaps too confident. The villagers fear Aelis’s necromancy. Much of The Warden concerns an ancient and powerful wizard who threatens both Aelis and the village she has sworn to protect.

The structure of both books rests on quests. Aelis learns that her city ways and wealthy family can’t help her with some of the threats she faces. While The Warden gets off to a slow start, Necrobane immediately continues the story of the previous book. Aelis accidentally activates an unknown number of animated dead of Mahlgren, necromancy-fueled remnants of the last war. While Aelis defeats the handful of deadly skeletons that attacked her within the secret chamber she was exploring, Aelis learns to her horror that there are far more similar crypts full of deadly skeletons scattered throughout the realm. Now the murderous animated dead are activated and heading in the direction of Lone Pine. 

Aelis finds allies to assist her in the quests. Maurenia, a beautiful half-elf, is a skilled soldier and engineer. Maurenia becomes Aelis’s lover. Timmuk, a clever dwarf merchant and a friend of Maurenia, travels the frontier of Ystain to trade and make money. He’s handy in battle.

My favorite character is Tun, a mysterious half-orc woodsman, who saves Aelis’s life on her previous adventures in The Warden. Tun’s skill as a tracker is invaluable in their quests through the wild frontier as they hope to stop the animated dead before they can swarm Lone Pine and kill all the villagers.

If you’re looking for fantasy novels with a perky lead character and a strong supporting cast, give The Warden and Necrobane a try. A third novel, Advocate, should be out next year. GRADE: B (for both)

Dwellers of the Deep was first published in 1970 as half of an ACE Double with Barry N. Malzberg’s pseudonym “K. M. O’Donnell” on the cover. Dwellers of the Deep is set in the summer of 1951.  The story revolves around 23-year-old Izzinius Fox who quits his job conducting interviews of welfare recipients in New York City to devote himself full-time to collecting science-fiction magazines. Izzinius Fox is a passionate collector of Tremendous Stories, a Science Fiction magazine Fox is more interested in owning than reading. Clearly Malzberg is poking fun at rabid SF collectors.

This is also a parody of the once dominant Astounding facing competition from Galaxy and The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. Science Fiction fandom is divided over the changes in the SF magazine market.

Fox also has his consciousness transported to an alien spaceship orbiting the Earth. The aliens want Fox to give them a copy of “A New Engineering of the Mind” (a dig at Dianetics). Fox resists and suspects he’s going insane. Malzberg captures the essence of SF fandom at that time and the controversies that various sects found mesmerizing. GRADE: B

Gather in the Hall of the Planets was published in 1971 as half of an ACE Double again with “K.M. O’Donnell” on the cover. Mazberg returns to poking fun at Science Fiction fandom in Gather in the Hall of the Planets. A struggling Science Fiction writer named Sanford Kvass is approached by aliens who tell him that Earth is being tested: an alien will appear in disguise at the 1974 World Science Fiction Convention. Unless Kvass can identify the alien, the Earth will be destroyed.

Malzberg mocks many writers and fans at the World Science Fiction convention. A big part of the snarky plot of Gather in the Hall of the Planets is that in becomes apparent that SF fans and SF writers are so weird there is no way Sanford Kvass can determine if one of them is actually an alien. GRADE: B

Dwellers of the Deep and Gather in the Hall of the Planets shows Barry N. Malzberg is a master of sarcasm and irony. Malzberg’s use of ambivalence and humor buffers the ridicule and mockery of SF fandom and SF writers Dwellers of the Deep and Gather in the Hall of the Planets are wrapped in. If you’re looking for dark, delicious Science Fiction satire, this wonderful STARK HOUSE omnibus delivers a double dose!

“THE ‘6Os are gone, dope will never be as cheap, sex never as free, and the Rock and Roll never as great.”–Abbie Hoffman

I’m sure Cap’n Bob will agree with Abbie Hoffman. The Sixties developed into an incredible decade, but these two compilations of songs from the 1960s do not include The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, or Motown so it’s hard to put credence in their claims of “Best.”

The Best of the 60s Decade has “Gloria” by the Shadows of Knight and “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” by The Tokens, two songs that rarely find their way onto complication CDs.

Top Ten Hits of the Sixties has two songs by The Troggs, but my favorite is their “Love Is All Around.” Of the two songs by The Byrds–both Dylan songs–I enjoyed “All I Really Want to Do” which is lesser known compared to “Mr. Tambourine Man.” I’m a fan of both songs by The Animals: “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood” and “We Gotta Get Out Of This Place.”

Do you remember these songs from the Sixties? Any favorites here? GRADE: B- (for both)

The Best of the 60s Decade TRACK LIST:

“Silence is Golden” — The Tremeloes

“Sugar Sugar” — The Archies

“I’m Into Something Good” — Herman’s Hermits

“Tell Laura I Love Her” — Ray Peterson

“Winchester Cathedral” –New Vaudeville Band

“Spooky” — Classics IV

“Windy” — The Association

“Love Potion Number 9” — The Searchers

“Gloria” — Shadows of Knight

“The Lion Sleeps Tonight” — The Tokens

Top Ten Hits of the Sixties TRACK LIST:

I found this Belmont Tower paperback from 1973 with a lame cover. But Roger Zelazny’s “Foreword” praising Harlan Ellison and Ellison’s own “Introduction” describing why he’s fearless make From the Land of Fear a fun read. Also fun are the stories included in this collection along with Ellison’s comments about how each story got written and what he intended by writing it.

Some of these stories come from the 1950s when Ellison was learning how to write and get published. Along with the reminiscences of this early work, Ellison also writes about the state of Science Fiction publishing that he had to navigate. Compelling reading!

My favorite part of From the Land of Fear is “Soldier,” a memorable anti-war story included both in short-story form and as a screenplay Ellison wrote for TV’s The Outer Limits. “Soldier” is the first of two episodes of The Outer Limits television series written by Harlan Ellison and is loosely adapted from his 1957 short story “Soldier from Tomorrow.” Ellison later brought suit against the producers and distributor of The Terminator (1984) for plagiarism of this episode. “Soldier” was first broadcast on The Outer Limits in September 19, 1964 and I watched it avidly as a fifteen-year-old kid. It turned me into an instant Harlan Ellison fan. GRADE: B

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Foreword: In Praise of His Spirits Noble and Otherwise — Roger Zelazny — 7
Introduction: Where the Stray Dreams Go — Harlan Ellison — 11
The / One / Word / People — 15
Moth on the Moon — 16
Snake in the Mind — 19
The Sky Is Burning — 24
My Brother Paulie — 33
The Time of the Eye — 42
Life Hutch — 51
Battle without Banners — 62
Back to the Drawing Boards — 75
A Friend to Man — 88
“We Mourn for Anyone…” — 95
The Voice in the Garden — 111
Soldier — 114
Soldier — 136
Soldier Act One — 139
Soldier Act Two — 149
Soldier Act Three — 159