Table of Contents:Overview
Slayers & Vampires: The Complete Uncensored, Unauthorized Oral History of Buffy & Angel by Edward Gross and Mark A. Altman follows the successful format of Gross and Altman’s critically acclaimed two-volume series The Fifty-Year Mission: The Complete, Uncensored, Unauthorized Oral History of Star Trek. Slayers & Vampires: The Complete, Uncensored, Unauthorized Oral History of Buffy The Vampire Slayer & Angel takes you behind the scenes of two of the most innovative TV shows of the late 1990s and early 2000s. Joss Weldon’s vision of a teenager girl going into a dark alley and kicking a vampire’s butt was realized in these popular series. As Gross and Altman describe Buffy and Angel, “Two decades after its groundbreaking debut, millions of fans worldwide remain enthralled with the incredible exploits of Joss Whedon’s Buffy Summers, the slayer and feminist icon who saved the world…a lot; as well as Angel, the tortured vampire with a soul who fought against the apocalyptic forces of evil.”

The authors interviewed almost 100 writers, producers, directors, filmmakers, sociologists and stars from Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Angel. The interviews included:
Joss Whedon
Guillermo del Toro
Felicia Day
Anthony Stewart Head
Charisma Carpenter
James Marsters
David Boreanaz
Amy Acker
J. August Richards
Eliza Dushku
Christian Kane
Julie Benz
If you’re a fan of Buffy and Angel, this is a must-buy. Even if you have a casual interest in these two franchises, Slayers & Vampires includes plenty of information about movie-making, TV script writing, directing, acting, and the business side of Hollywood. Highly recommended! GRADE: A
Table of Contents
ONCE MORE, WITH KNEELING by Mark A. Altman, 9
VAMPIRES AND SLAYERS, OH MY! by Edward Gross, 15
PART ONE: BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER “She saved the world … a lot.”,
BLONDE ON BLONDE, 19
HELLMOUTH OR HIGH WATER, 37
HIGH SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL, 65
BEWITCHED, BOTHERED, AND BUFFY, 96
SOUL MAN, 121
YOU GOTTA HAVE FAITH, 153
THE SPY WHO LOVED ME, 174
A FIGHT FOR LOVE AND GLORY (aka DEATH IS YOUR GIFT), 192
MORE THAN A FEELING, 214
LEAVING SUNNYDALE, 258
PART TWO: ANGEL “Fangs, don’t fail me now.”,
BACK IN BLACK, 291
OUT OF THE PAST, 367
HERE COMES THE SON, 400
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, 421
L.A. LAW, 452
PART THREE: ACROSS THE BUFFYVERSE “If there is no great glorious end to all this, if nothing we do matters, then all that matters is what we do.”,
BEYOND BUFFY, 499
GIRL POWER FOREVER, 506
Acknowledgments, 521
About the Authors, 523

Beneath An Oil-Dark Sea is the second volume of talented Caitlin R. Kiernan’s short stories. You can read my review of her first volume, Two Worlds and In Between, here. The stories in this volume were published between 2000 and 2013. A bonus is a bibliography of Caitlin R. Kiernan’s work from 1985 to 2015. My favorite stories in this massive collection (600+ pages!) are “Pickman’s Other Model (1929)” and “Houndwife.” Both stories are homages to H. P. Lovecraft stories. Kiernan is prolific so the quality of the stories vary. When she’s good, she’s very very good. When she’s not so good, she’s just average. If you’re looking for provocative stories by one of the best Science Fiction and Fantasy writers now publishing, I recommend Beneath An Oil-Dark Sea. GRADE: B+
Table of Contents:
Introduction by S. T. Joshi
PART ONE (Atlanta, 2004-2008)
Bradbury Weather
Pony
Untitled 17
A Child’s Guide to the Hollow Hills
The Ammonite Violin (Murder Ballad No. 4)
A Season of Broken Dolls
In View of Nothing
The Ape’s Wife
The Steam Dancer (1896)
In the Dreamtime of Lady Resurrection
Pickman’s Other Model (1929)
PART TWO (Providence, 2008-2012)
Galapagos
The Melusine (1898)
As Red as Red
Fish Bride (1970)
The Mermaid of the Concrete Ocean
The Sea Troll’s Daughter
Hydraguros
Houndwife
The Maltese Unicorn
Tidal Forces
And the Cloud That Took the Form
The Prayer of Ninety Cats
Daughter Dear Desmodus
One Tree Hill (The World as Cataclysm)
Black Helicopters
Epilogue: Atlantis
Bibliography/Publication History
Illustrations (Bonus in Limited)
Falses Starts II Table of Contents (Volume Exclusive to the Limited Edition)
Prolegomenon
The Path of Silence
Iris
Romeo and Juliet Go to Mars
The Benefactions of Demons MM. Newcoment, Watt & Boulton (1900)
The Diamond Friendly
There are Kisses for us all
There will be Kisses for us all
A Piece of the Sky
May 5, 2013
May 6, 2013
May 8, 2013
Penance to the Pool of Perversity (1917)
Noah’s Raven
Mechs Have Better Things to do with Fallen Angels
Words Written Backwards
Deep Ocean Vast Sea
Glove
(Dead) Love Among the Ruins
Untitled 19
Night in an Eye of God
The Seeker in the City of Stone Flowers

Satya Nadella, the CEO of Microsoft, tells how he gained his lofty position and what he did when he got there. I’m always fascinated by leaders who have to change the corporate culture. When Satya Nadella took over the top spot at Microsoft, the organization was facing several problems. Innovation had slowed down. Market share was shrinking. Corporate focus was lacking. Satya Nadella shows how he managed to get key groups within and without of Microsoft to buy into his vision of where the organization needed to go. Today, Microsoft is heavily invested in cloud computing and Artificial Intelligence. Interest in Quantum computing is also growing. It’s not easy to change corporate culture or change organizational strategy. But, Satya Nadella seems to have done it and Hit Refresh shows how he did it. Impressive! Are you a fan of Microsoft? GRADE: A
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Foreword Bill Gates ix
Chapter 1 From Hyderabad to Redmond 1
How Karl Marx, a Sanskrit Scholar, and a Cricket Hero Shaped My Boyhood

Chapter 2 Learning to Lead 35
Seeing the Cloud Through Our Windows

Chapter 3 New Mission, New Momentum 63
Rediscovering the Soul of Microsoft

Chapter 4 A Cultural Renaissance 97
From Know-It-Alls to Learn-It-Alls

Chapter 5 Friends or Frenemies? 121
Build Partnerships Before You Need Them

Chapter 6 Beyond the Cloud 139
Three Shifts: Mixed Reality, Artificial Intelligence, and Quantum Computing

Chapter 7 The Trust Equation 169
Timeless Values in the Digital Age: Privacy, Security, and Free Speech

Chapter 8 The Future of Humans and Machines 195
Toward an Ethical Framework for AI Design

Chapter 9 Restoring Economic Growth for Everyone 211
The Role of Companies in a Global Society

Afterword 235
Acknowledgments 243
Sources and Further Reading 247
INDEX 257

Despite the pandemonium of 2017, your comments provided a lonely outpost of sanity and reason in a siege of Fake News and Alternative Facts. According to the Pew Research Center, 58% of Republicans and conservatives believe Colleges are having a negative impact on our country. Then factor in the Real Fact that while Americans make up 4% of the world’s population, they own 42% of the guns on this planet. The intelligence and wit of Patti, Jeff, Deb, Rick, Beth, Todd, Art, Bill, Maggie, Bob, Prashant, Sergio, Carl, Lauren, Steve, Jerry, Wolf, Stan, Dan, Michael, Elgin, Scott, Jim, John, Randy, James, Kent, and Mathew as well as all of you who make this blog a part of your day raised my flagging spirits during some very Dark Times. So I want to say thank you.

Thank you very much.

It all boils down to this: the Buffalo Bills (2 1/2 point favorites) need to defeat Miami, and the LA Chargers and Tennessee Titans need to lose their games today for the Bills to break their 17-year Playoff drought. The chances all this will happen is 42%. I’m not optimistic. How will your favorite NFL team perform today?

The Wall Street Journal review raved about Will Friedwald’s The Great Jazz and Pop Vocal Albums so I had to read it. I actually have listened to about half of the albums Friedwald selected as “great.” There are some quirky (to me) selections. Friedwald includes three Doris Day albums…but only two by Frank Sinatra! The biggest surprise to me was the inclusion of Tiny Tim’s album! I’m eager to track down the albums I haven’t listened to. Will Friedwald’s writing about each album informs and delights. I picked The Great Jazz and Pop Vocal Albums as one of my favorite books of 2017. If you love this kind of music, you’ll find plenty to like between the covers of this book! How many of these great albums have you heard? Did any of your favorites not make Will Friedwald’s “great” list? GRADE: A
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface and Acknowledgments ix
Introduction: The Origins and Development of the Pop Music Album from To Mother to The Voice xiii
1. Louis Armstrong, Louis Armstrong Meets Oscar Peterson 3
2. Fred Astaire, The Astaire Story 11
3. Chet Baker, Let’s Get Lost: The Best of Chet Baker Sings 25
4. Tony Bennett and Bill Evans, The Tony Bennett / Bill Evans Album and Together Again 34
5. Ray Charles, Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music 43
6. June Christy, Something Cool 50
7. Rosemary Clooney, Blue Rose 59
8. Nat King Cole, After Midnight 69
9. Nat King Cole, St. Louis Blues 76
10. Bing Crosby, Bing with a Beat 82
11. Bing Crosby and Louis Armstrong, Bing & Satchmo 91
12. Doris Day, Day by Day and Day by Night 97
13. Doris Day and Robert Goulet, Annie Get Your Gun 105
14. Blossom Dearie, My Gentleman Friend 112
15. Matt Dennis, Matt Dennis Plays and Sings Matt Dennis Bobby Troup, Bobby Troup Sings Johnny Mercer 117
16. Billy Eckstine, Billy’s Best! 127
17. Ella Fitzgerald, Lullabies of Birdland 134
18. Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong, Ella & Louis 142
19. Ella Fitzgerald, Mack the Knife: Ella in Berlin 148
20. Judy Garland, Judy at Carnegie Hall 154
21. Johnny Hartman, John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman 163
22. Dick Haymes, Rain or Shine 171
23. Billie Holiday, Lady in Satin 177
24. Lena Horne, Lena Horne at the Waldorf Astoria 184
25. Barb Jungr, Every Grain of Sand: Barb Jungr Sings Bob Dylan 190
26. Dave Lambert, Jon Hendricks, and Annie Ross, Sing a Song of Basie Annie Ross, Sings a Song with Mulligan! 197
27. Eydie Gormé and Steve Lawrence, Eydie and Steve Sing the Golden Hits 209
28. Peggy Lee, Black Coffee 214
29. Peggy Lee, The Man I Love 221
30. Marilyn Maye, Meet Marvelous Marilyn Maye 228
31. Carmen McRae, As Time Goes By: Live at the Dug 234
32. Anita O’Day, Anita O’Day Sings the Winners 241
33. Della Reese, Della Della Cha Cha Cha 250
34. Jimmy Scott, The Source and Lost and Found 255
35. Bobby Short, Bobby Short 265
36. Nina Simone, Nina Simone and Piano! 272
37. Frank Sinatra, In the Wee Small Hours 280
38. Frank Sinatra, Songs for Swingin’ Lovers! 288
39. Jo Stafford, Jo Stafford Sings American Folk Songs and Jo Stafford Sings Songs of Scotland 297
40. Jo Stafford, I’ll Be Seeing You (G.I. Jo) 307
41. Kay Starr, I Cry by Night 314
42. Maxine Sullivan, Memories of You: A Tribute to Andy Razaf 321
43. Jack Teagarden, Think Well of Me 329
44. Tiny Tim, God Bless Tiny Tim 338
45. Mel Tormé, Mel Tormé with the Marty Paich Dek-Tette (Lulu’s Back in Town) 347
46. Sarah Vaughan, Sarah Vaughan 355
47. Sarah Vaughan, “Live” in Japan 361
48. Dinah Washington, Dinah Washington Sings Fats Waller 368
49. Margaret Whiting, Margaret Whiting Sings the Jerome Kern Song Book 376
50. Lee Wiley, Night in Manhattan 383
51. Cassandra Wilson, Belly of the Sun 390
Discography 399

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