I’ve been reading these Pushcart Prize anthologies for 39 years. The early books were smaller and more focused. The last decade or so it seems like editor Bill Henderson has adopted a “kitchen sink” approach. The Pushcart Prize books have grown bloated. There are 65 stories, poems, and essays in this inflated volume. Half of this material could have been cut out. My favorite short story is Russell Banks’ dark “Blue.” I liked the essays “HIPPIES AND BEATS” by Edward Hoagland and “MYSTERIES OF THOREAU, UNSOLVED” by Rebecca Solnit. As usual, I didn’t like any of the poetry. GRADE: B
TABLE OF CONTENTS
THE ZEN THING, Emma Duffy–Comparone
WHAT THE BODY KNOWS, Joni Tevis
WHY WE MUST SUPPORT PBS, Bob Hicok
MADAME BOVARY’S GREYHOUND, Karen Russell
PLAYING AT VIOLENCE, Pacifique Irankunda
WINTER ELDERS, Shawn Vestal
A TAB OF IRON ON THE TONGUE, Sandra Lim
IF IT WERE ANYONE ELSE, Lincoln Michel
ANNIE RADCLIFFE, YOU ARE LOVED, Barrett Swanson
CITY HORSE, Henri Cole
THE ICE COMMITTEE , David Means
BREAKING IT, Mary Hood
MONOLOGUE DURING A BLACKOUT, Kara Candito
SAY, Joe Wilkins
CALLING ALL ODDS, D.A. Powell
MY WHITE HOUSE DAYS, Thomas E. Kennedy
GEESE, Ellen Bryant Voigt
THE MOTHER, Latoya Watkins
THE NEWS CYCLE, Daniel Tovrov
APPROACH OF THE HORIZON, Louise Glück
THE FICTION WRITER, Maribeth Fischer
ALBION, Philip Levine
THE PROSPECTS, Michelle Seaton
MY MOTHER TOLD US NOT TO HAVE CHILDREN, Rebecca Gayle Howell
THE TOWER, Frederic Tuten
HOW TO TRIUMPH LIKE A GIRL, Ada Limón
ELEGIES 235, Kathleen Ossip
THE LAST DAYS OF THE BALDOCK, Inara Verzemnieks
YOUR GHOST, Hillary Gravendyk
LA PULCHRA NOTA, Molly McNett
BLUE, Russell Banks
VISIT #1, Afaa Michael Weaver
HIPPIES AND BEATS, Edward Hoagland
PINE, Susan Stewart
ANIMALS, Michael Kardos
ELEGY WITH A CITY IN IT, Reginald Dwayne Betts
THE UNFOLLOWING, Lyn Hejinian
HOW SHE REMEMBERS IT, Rick Bass
“TOO MANY PIGEONS TO COUNT AND ONE DOVE”, Mary Szybist
MYSTERIES OF THOREAU, UNSOLVED, Rebecca Solnit
THE STREETLAMP ABOVE ME DARKENS, Tarfia Faizullah
DAYS OF BEING MILD, Xuan Juliana Wang
LIKE A JET, Sina Queyras
THE DANCE CONTEST, Wells Tower
MINDFUL, Rachel Zucker
UNWILLING, Nance Van Winckel
BOOK OF FORGET, Rebecca Hazelton
THE WEIRDOS, Ottessa Moshfegh
TRIM PALACE, Alexander Maksik
CAPTCHA, Stephanie Strickland
WATCHING A WOMAN ON THEM101 EXPRESS, Kamilah Aisha Moon
BLACK PLANK, Nancy Geyer
BOY. CHILD WITHOUT LEGS. GETTING OFF A CHAIR., Oliver De La Paz
FOR BEDS, Matthew Vollmer
THE HUM OF ZUG ISLAND, Jamaal May
BY THE TIME YOU READ THIS, Yannick Murphy
PIGMEAT, Amaud Jamaul Johnson
JOHN CLARE, Michael Dickman
FABLES, Bennett Sims
MIMESIS, Fady Joudah
WAKING LUNA, Aisha Gawad
RAPE JOKE, Patricia Lockwood
GHAZAL, Marilyn Hacker
UNMOVING LIKE A MIGHT RIVER STILLED, Alan Rossi
SUPERWHITE, Jim White

This collection of four short stories are all narrated by Richard Ford’s famous character, Frank Bascombe, whose novels–The Sportswriter, Independence Day, and The Lay of the Land–have won awards. My favorite story in this collection is “Everything Could Be Worse.” Bascombe encounters a woman who claims she once lived in the house he owns. She asks if she could look inside the house she grew up in. Then, she tells Bascombe her story. Chilling. I also liked the third story, “The New Normal,” where Bascombe visits his ex-wife in an assisted living facility. The whole issue of aging looms large. The other two stories, “I’m Here,” and “Deaths of Others” convey Bascombe’s sometimes acerbic insights about Life. I’ve read all of Richard Ford’s books. Even this late in his career, Ford still has the power to move readers. GRADE: B+

Western New York has experienced a couple of weeks of frigid temperatures (below 32 degrees Fahrenheit). Right now, the temperature is 12 degrees and the wind chill is -2. We’re just a few miles from Niagara Falls and contrary to popular belief, some parts of Niagara Falls do freeze. Here’s the visual evidence. It’s eerily beautiful.

The ever generous Beth Fedyn sent me the ARC of Funny Girl (it goes on sale tomorrow). Barbara Parker wins the Miss Blackpool beauty contest, but gives it all up to go to London to pursue a career as a comic actress. And, surprisingly, she succeeds. Barbara is changed into “Sophie Straw” by her agent. Sophie gets cast in a domestic TV comedy called Barbara (and Jim) that becomes an instant hit on the BBC TV channel in 1964. I enjoyed the way Nick Hornby presents the writing team who generates the funny scripts. Clearly, Hornby knows a few things about writing a script (he was nominated for an Oscar for the script for An Education). It wouldn’t surprise me to see a movie version of this book in a year or two. Funny Girl is fun and funny. GRADE: B+

My heart says Seattle Seahawks but my head says New England Patriots. Who do you think will win the Super Bowl?

I saw Fleetwood Mac in concert back in the 1970s in Madison, Wisconsin. The tickets were $15 each. A few years later, Diane and I saw Fleetwood Mac again when they stopped in Buffalo. The tickets cost $20 each. Now, decades later, Fleetwood Mac is back together for what promises to be their Final Tour. The tickets cost us $200 each. All the members of Fleetwood Mac are on Medicare and collecting Social Security, but they’re still rocking! The set list for other concerts suggests what we’ll be hearing tonight.
1.”The Chain”
2.”You Make Loving Fun”
3.”Dreams”
4.”Second Hand News”
5.”Rhiannon”
6.”Everywhere”
7.”I Know I’m Not Wrong”
8.”Tusk
9.”Sisters of the Moon”
10.”Say You Love Me”
11.”Seven Wonders”
12.”Big Love”
13.”Landslide”
14.”Never Going Back Again”
15.”Over My Head”
16.”Gypsy”
17.”Little Lies”
18.”Gold Dust Woman”
19.”I’m So Afraid”
20.”Go Your Own Way”
Encore 1
21.”World Turning”
22.”Don’t Stop”
23.”Silver Springs”
Encore 2
24.”Songbird”

Back in 1934, E. E. Smith’s Triplanetary appeared and changed the mind-set of science fiction readers. Up until that time, most SF stories had settings in the Solar System. Mars was a big favorite. But with Triplanetary, Smith introduced the concept of Faster-Than-Light (FTL) space travel and life outside the Solar System. Planets orbiting other stars with advanced civilizations, space battles, and what would later be labeled “Space Opera” are just a few of the innovations E. E. Smith introduced with Triplanetary. But, this was just the beginning of Smith’s Lensman series, one of the epic SF series with clashing civilizations and titanic space warfare. Yes, the writing is a little wooden. But the vision still powerful 80 years later. I like this new edition of Triplanetary published by Armchair Fiction.
THE LENSMEN SERIES:
1.Triplanetary (1948. Originally published in four parts, January–April 1934, in Amazing Stories)
2. First Lensman (1950, Fantasy Press)
3. Galactic Patrol (1950. Originally published in six parts, September 1937 – February 1938, in Astounding Stories)
4. Gray Lensman (1951. Originally published in four parts, October 1939 – January 1940, Astounding Stories)
5. Second Stage Lensmen (1953. Originally published in four parts, November 1941 – February 1942, Astounding Stories)
6. Children of the Lens (1954. Originally published in four parts, November 1947 – February 1948, Astounding Stories)

Jordan Ellenberg covers a lot of ground in this exploration of applied mathematics. I found the chapters on probability and statistics most entertaining. The application of math to gambling has been going on for centuries. This book might not help you pick the Super Bowl winner, but it might prevent you from wasting your money buying lottery tickets or slinking home broke from a casino. GRADE: B+
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Introduction: When Am I Going To Use This?
Part I: LINEARITY
1. Less Like Sweden
2. Straight Locally, Curved Globally
3. Everyone is Obese
4. How Much is That in Dead Americans?
5. More Pie Than Plate
Part II: INFERENCE
6. The Baltimore Stockbroker and the Bible Code
7. Dead Fish Don’t Read Minds
8. Reductio ad Unlikely
9. The International Journal of Haruspicy
10. Are You There, God? It’s Me, Bayesian Inference
Part III: EXPECTATION
11. What To Expect When You’re Expecting To Win The Lottery
12. Miss More Planes!
13. Where the Train Tracks Meet
Part IV: REGRESSION
14. The Triumph of Mediocrity
15. Galton’s Ellipse
16. Does Lung Cancer Make You Smoke Cigarettes?
Part V: EXISTENCE
17. There Is No Such Thing As Public Opinion
18. “Out of nothing I have created a strange new universe”
Conclusion: How To Be Right

My favorite two stories of Alex Shvartsman are the title story, “Explaining Cthulhu to Grandma,” and “High-Tech Fairies and the Pandora Perplexity.” If you’re in the mood for some clever but silly stories, this book provides plenty of them. The quality is uneven. Some of these stories are funny, others not so much. I have the paperback edition published by UFO Publishing. The ebook version includes several more stories. GRADE: B
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
1.“Explaining Cthulhu to Grandma”
2.“The Rumination on What Isn’t”
3.“Doubt”
4.“Spidersong”
5.“Things We Leave Behind”
6.“The Epistolary History”
7.“A Shard Glows in Brooklyn”
8.“Requiem for a Druid”
9.“Nuclear Family”
10.“Bedtime Story on Christmas Eve, 1,000,000 AD”
11.“Seven Conversations in Locked Rooms”
12.“High-Tech Fairies and the Pandora Perplexity”
13.“The Keepsake Box”
14.“The Field Trip”
15.“Superior Firepower”
16.“Life at the Lake’s Shore”
17.“The Take”
18.“The Dragon Ships of Tycho”
19.“A Brief Respite from Eternity”
20.“A Thousand Cuts”
21.“Ravages of Time”
22.“Price of Allegiance”
23.“The Tell-Tale Ear”
24.“The Miracle on Tau Prime”
25.“The Tinker Bell Problem”
26.“True Love”
27.“You Bet”
28.“The Far Side of the Wilderness”
29.“Worldbuilding”
30.“In the Wake of the Storm”
31.“Putting It All Together”
32.“Dominoes Falling”
33.“Notes on the Game in Progress, Played Almost to a Draw”
34.“Small Magics (*)”
35.“Icarus Falls”
36.“Coffee in End Times”
37.“The Hourglass Brigade (*)”
38.“A One-Sided Argument”
39.“How Earth Narrowly Escaped an Invasion from Space”
40.“Fate and Other Variables”

The bonus content (in e-book only) also includes the following
41.“The Skeptic”
42.“Good Advice”
43.“In Service of a Greater Cause”
44.“The Sgovari Stratagem”
45.“A Gnomish Gift”
46.“Pel’s Crusade”
47.“A Better Tomorrow”
48.“Hunter”
49.“A Tear in the Web”
50.“The Traveling Fair”
51.“The Last Incantation”
52.“An Indelible Feast”
53.“The Storyteller”
54.“One Thousand and First”
55.“Manna From Heaven”
56.“On the Last Afternoon”
57.“Time Away”
58.“The Getaway”
59.“Those Who Can’t Do”
60.“Number Station”
61.“How to Locate and Capture Time Travelers: A Memo”
62.“Chill”
63.“Tales of the Elopus”

I came across these Perry Mason Double Feature DVDs in Sam’s Club. You might remember these made-for-TV movies from the 1980s and early 1990s. Raymond Burr was way past his prime so secondary characters carried these series. I had forgotten how many of these TV movies were made! Here’s the list:
Perry Mason Returns (1985) (TV)
2.Perry Mason: The Case of the Notorious Nun (1986) (TV)
3.Perry Mason: The Case of the Shooting Star (1986) (TV)
4.Perry Mason: The Case of the Murdered Madam (1987) (TV)
5.Perry Mason: The Case of the Lost Love (1987) (TV)
6.Perry Mason: The Case of the Scandalous Scoundrel (1987) (TV)
7.Perry Mason: The Case of the Sinister Spirit (1987) (TV)
8.Perry Mason: The Case of the Avenging Ace (1988) (TV)
9.Perry Mason: The Case of the Lady in the Lake (1988) (TV)
10.Perry Mason: The Case of the Lethal Lesson (1989) (TV)
11.Perry Mason: The Case of the Musical Murder (1989) (TV)
12.Perry Mason: The Case of the All-Star Assassin (1989) (TV)
13.Perry Mason: The Case of the Silenced Singer (1990) (TV)
14.Perry Mason: The Case of the Defiant Daughter (1990) (TV)
15.Perry Mason: The Case of the Desperate Deception (1990) (TV)
16.Perry Mason: The Case of the Poisoned Pen (1990) (TV)
17.Perry Mason: The Case of the Fatal Fashion (1991) (TV)
18.Perry Mason: The Case of the Glass Coffin (1991) (TV)
19.Perry Mason: The Case of the Maligned Mobster (1991) (TV)
20.Perry Mason: The Case of the Ruthless Reporter (1991) (TV)
21.Perry Mason: The Case of the Fatal Framing (1992) (TV)
22.Perry Mason: The Case of the Heartbroken Bride (1992) (TV)
23.Perry Mason: The Case of the Reckless Romeo (1992) (TV)
24.Perry Mason: The Case of the Skin-Deep Scandal (1993) (TV)
25.Perry Mason: The Case of the Telltale Talk Show Host (1993) (TV)
26.Perry Mason: The Case of the Killer Kiss (1993) (TV)