The 5-0 Cincinnati Bengals come to town to face the banged-up Buffalo Bills. Who will play quarterback for the Bills this week? Tyrod Taylor has a sprained MCL. Backup E.J. Manuel is a…backup. Wide receiver Sammy Watkins has a calf injury. High priced LeSean McCoy has a ham-string injury. The Bills rookie running back Karlos Williams has a concussion. This could be a Blowout Game. How will your favorite NFL team do today?

The Last Kingdom is a series based on Bernard Cornwell’s Saxon Stories featuring the fierce warrior, Uhtred of Bebbanburg. Set in the 9th and 10the Centuries, the Saxon Stories show how England became a united country instead of a group of warring territories. Cornwell’s skill at describing battles translates well in the TV series as Uhtred pledges himself to King John. If you’re a fan of English history, this series will enlighten you. If you’re a fan of action, you’ll find plenty in these tales of war and political intrigue. BBC America runs The Last Kingdom at 10 P.M. Eastern DST. Check the schedule in your area.

In the glow of the wonderful BOUCHERCON in Raleigh, I thought I’d honor Anthony Boucher with one of the memorial anthologies dedicated to Boucher’s excellence as an editor. Special Wonder collects high quality fantasy and science fiction stories. Just check out the Table of Contents below to appreciate the top-notch writers who are contributors to this anthology. John O’Neill of Black Gate also reviewed this volume recently. You can read his take on this excellent volume here. When I get a chance, I’ll review the companion anthology, Crimes and Misfortunes: The Anthony Boucher Memorial Anthology of Mysteries. Both of these memorial volumes are highly recommended.
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Introduction by J. Francis McComas
“Journeys End” by Poul Anderson (1957)
“The Brazen Locked Room” by Isaac Asimov (1956)
“The Fire Balloons” by Ray Bradbury (1951)
“The Gnurrs Come from the Voodvork Out” by Reginald Bretnor (1950)
“Through Time and Space with Ferdinand Feghoot” by Reginald Bretnor (1956)
“Puppet Show” by Fredric Brown (1962)
“Puzzle for Spacemen” by John Brunner (1955)
“Aunt Agatha” by Doris Pitkin Buck (1952)
“The Wild Wood” by Mildred Clingerman (1957)
“King’s Evil” by Avram Davidson (1956)
“Cruelty” by Jon DeCles (1970)
“The Apotheosis of Ki” by Miriam Allen deFord (1956)
“The Shape of Things That Came” by Richard Deming (1951)
“The Three” by Gordon R. Dickson (1953)
“Pretty Maggie Moneyeyes” by Harlan Ellison (1967)
“Prometheus” by Philip José Farmer (1961)
Ransom” by H. B. Fyfe (1952)
“The Muddle of the Woad” by Randall Garrett (1965)
“You’re Another” by Damon Knight (1955)
“Old Man Henderson” by Kris Neville (1951)
“He Kilt It with a Stick” by William F. Nolan (1968)
“The Canvas Bag” by Alan E. Nourse (1955)
“Pilgrimage” by Chad Oliver (1958)
“Gun for Hire” by Mack Reynolds (1960)
“Brightness Falls from the Air” by Margaret St. Clair (1951)
“Built Up Logically” by Howard Schoenfeld (1949)
“Warm Man” by Robert Silverberg (1957)
“Green Magic” by Jack Vance (1963)
“Deny the Slake” by Richard Wilson (1957)

One of the benefits of BOUCHERCON is the free books. I picked this copy of R. E. Conary’s Life’s a Bitch. So AM I. off the swap table. This is a far cry from Honey West. But Conary’s tough-as-nails heroine provides plenty of action in this thriller. Sure, Life’s a Bitch. So Am I isn’t top shelf storytelling, but if you’re looking for some fast-paced escapism, this is the book for you. An extra bonus: my copy was Large Print! GRADE: C+

RICHARD MOORE AND ME.

FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: ANGELA, PATTI, ME, BILL, TED, THOM, PHIL, AND JACKIE

TOP ROW: TED FITZGERALD, BILL CRIDER, TED HERTAL; SITTING: MAGGIE MASON AND JEFF MEYERSON
GOOD:
1. Raleigh is a very nice city. All the people I met were friendly and helpful.
2. It was great to visit with Patti, Phil, and Megan Abbott, Jeff and Jackie Meyerson, Bill Crider and Angela, George Easter, Ted Hertel, Ted Fitzgerald, Maggie Mason and Nancy, Janet Rudolph, Richard Moore, Marv Lachman, and Thom Walls.
3. Patti and Phil treated me to BBQ Tofu at THE PIT restaurant. Delicious! The Chocolate Factory was wonderful, too!
4. Loved Patti’s panel on “Metropolitan Mysteries.” Also enjoyed the panel where Bill Crider, Megan Abbott, and Lawrence Block talking about “influences” on their mystery writing and reading.
5. Had a great submarine sandwich at a place called SUB CONSCIOUS.
BAD:
1. The “Two Hotel Strategy” was a bit cumbersome. I was in the Sheridan while many others were in the Marriott. Even though there was only a 100-yards between the two hotels, the walk back and forth for panels grew tiresome. On Saturday, it rained so there were more complaints then, too.
2. The Dealers’ Room was a joke. I’m sure 99% of the books for sale were new books (mostly authors at BOUCHERCON). I was able to find a few good books at a couple of used bookstores in Raleigh: NICE PRICE BOOKS and READER’S CORNER.
UGLY:
1. The Sheridan Raleigh doesn’t have an airport shuttle so I had to spend $100 on taxis to and from the Airport. Bah!
2. I was caught in the Southwest Airlines computer meltdown. My bag didn’t show up until hours after I landed in Buffalo. There were moments when I didn’t think my flight was going to get off the ground in Baltimore. Ah, the joys of Travelling. But all in all, I really enjoyed the Raleigh BOUCHERCON. See you in New Orleans!

Some people consider Psycho Alfred Hitchcock’s best movie (I’m torn between Rear Window and Vertigo). But there’s no denying the power of Psycho and its innovations. I picked up this new Blu-ray version at Wal-Mart for $9.95. Well worth it! The film never looked so good! And check out these extras:
The Making of Psycho
Psycho Sound
In The Master’s Shadow: Hitchcock’s Legacy
Hitchcock / Truffaut Interview Excerpts
Newsreel Footage: The Release of Psycho
The Shower Scene: With and Without Music
The Shower Scene: Storyboards by Saul Bass
The Psycho Archives
Posters and Psycho Ads
Lobby Cards
Behind-the-Scenes Photographs
Production Photographs
Theatrical Trailer
Re-release Trailers
My Scenes
Feature Commentary with Stephen Rebello (author of “Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho”)
BD-Live
If you’re a fan of Hitchcock, you’ll enjoy all the extra content on this disc. A great value at a great price!

The Bills committed 17 penalties in their loss to the Giants last week. Head Coach Rex Ryan “promises” the coaching staff will “clean things up” in time to take on the Tennessee Titans. We’ll see. The Bills lead the NFL with 58 penalties in four games. Not good. I’ll be flying back from the BOUCHERCON in Raleigh so I’ll miss the game unless I can find a sports bar in the Baltimore Airport (where I have a 2-hour layover). How will your favorite NFL team do today?

Philip K. Dick won a Hugo Award for Best Novel of the Year with The Man in the High Castle. The novel is an alternate reality SF novel where Nazi Germany and Japan win World War II. They divide up the United States. But Hitler’s health is poor and some of the Nazi elite want to claim all of North America. There’s an American resistance, but it’s weak and ineffectual. AMAZON Video is releasing a mini-series in November but the first episode is available right now. Just go to AMAZON and you can watch it for free. I liked the first episode so I’ll be coming back for more in November.

I grew up reading ACE Doubles and D-497 (1961) was always a favorite because of the cool cover on Ray Cummings’s Wandl the Invader. Wandl the Invader is a sequel to Cumming’s Brigands of the Moon. A mysterious “Tenth Planet” enters the Solar System and our heroes, Haljan and his friend Snap, battle against the Forces of Evil. Wandl the Invader was serialized in Astounding Stories in 1932 so you can gauge the amount of pulp in the story (a lot!). “Keith Woodcott” is a pseudonym of Science Fiction writer, John Brunner. A Federation of Worlds threatens Earth as it prepares to launch it’s first starship. The Federation demands Earth send them a “representative” who would live among Federation members for year so they could determine whether Earth is worthy of becoming a member or not. The leaders of Earth come up with a clever strategy to fool the Federation: they use psychic technology to house six personalities in one body (two of the personalities are females, the other four are males). Each personality has its own scientific expertise. I Speak for Earth has a clever ending that forecasts some of John Brunner’s later SF. If you’re a fan of classic SF, here are two good examples.