The current format for most Network and Cable shows is to take “breaks” during the season. Tonight, The Flash on CW and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. on ABC present their “Fall Finales.” The Flash will take on the murderer of his mother (according to the Previews) while the agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. descend into the deadly underground alien city under San Juan where they need to take the McGuffin–er, The Obelisk–to the Temple. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is basically a long advertisement for The Avengers 2 movie coming out in May 2015. In January, Agent Carter, a S.H.I.E.L.D. retro-series, will take the ABC Tuesday at 9 P.M. time slot for eight episodes until Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. returns. If you’re looking for some diverting TV based on comic books, these two shows fit the bill. You can find past episodes online or ON DEMAND.

My favorite sections of The Art of the English Murder are “Enter the Detective” and “The Golden Age.” Lucy Worsley traces the history of crime fiction in England. I was less interested in the true crime examples Worsley explores. If you’re a fan of English mystery fiction, you’ll find The Art of the English Murder a breezy tour of the genre. For a deeper and more detailed survey, I’d recommend Julian Symons’ Bloody Murder – From the Detective Story to the Crime Novel: A History (1972) (US title: Mortal Consequences). GRADE: B
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Introduction
PART ONE: HOW TO ENJOY A MURDER
1. A Connoisseur in Murder
2. The Highway
3. The Watchmen
4. The Murder Circuit
5. House of Wax
6. True Crime
7. Charles Dickens, Crime Writer
8. The Ballad of Maria Marten
9. Stage Fright
10. The Bermondsey Horror
PART TWO: ENTER THE DETECTIVE
11. Middle-Class Murderers and Medical Gentlemen
12. The Good Wife
13. Detective Fever
14. A New Sensation
15. ‘It is worse than a crime, Violet…’
16. Monsters and Men
17. The Adventure of the Forensic Scientist
18. Revelations of a Lady Detective
PART THREE: THE GOLDEN AGE
19. Women Between the Wars
20. The Duchess of Death
21. A Life Less Ordinary
22. The Great Game
23. Snobbery with Violence
24. The Dangerous Edge of Things

Postscript: ‘The Decline of English Murder’

Acknowledgements
Sources
Index

The 7-5 Buffalo Bills face a must-win game in Denver this afternoon. Peyton Manning provides a major defensive headache. The Broncos are favored by 10 points. The Bills need to pull a Major Upset to stay in the Playoff conversation. How will your favorite NFL team do today?

Roxane Gay’s Bad Feminist covers a lot of ground: reviews of Fifty Shades of Grey, The Help, Django, and The Hunger Games. A disturbing story of her rape. Takes on race in America. Plenty of personal details. But my favorite essay in Bad Feminist is “Typical First Year Professor” where Roxane Gay experiences all of the challenges of teaching college students that I do. You’ll find that Roxane Gay is a complicated person with a lot on her mind. GRADE: B
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
[INTRODUCTION]
Feminism (n.): Plural
[ME]
Feel Me, See Me, Hear Me, Reach Me
Peculiar Benefits
Typical First Year Professor
To Scratch, Claw, or Grope Clumsily or Frantically
{GENDER & SEXUALITY]
How to Be Friends with Another Woman
Girls, Girls, Girls
I Once Was Miss America
Not Here to Make Friends
How We All Lose
Reaching for Catharsis: Getting Fat Right (or Wrong) and Diana Spechler’s Skinny
The Carless Language of Sexual Violence
What We Hunger For
The Illusion of Safety/The Safety of Illusion
The Spectacle of Broken Men
A Tale of Three Coming Out Stories
Beyond the Measure of Men
Some Jokes are Funnier Than Others
Dear Young Ladies Who Love Chris Brown So Much They Would Let Him Beat Them
Blurred Lines, Indeed
The Trouble With Prince Charming, or He Who Trespassed Against Us
[RACE & ENTERTAINMENT]
The Solace of Preparing Fried Foods and Other Quaint Remembrances from 1960s Mississippi: Thoughts on The Help
Surviving Django
Beyond the Struggle Narrative
The Morality of Tyler Perry
The Last Day of a Young Black Man
We Less Is More
[POLITICS, GENDER & RACE]
The Politics of Respectability
When Twitter Does What Journalism Cannot
The Alienable Rights of Women
Holding Out for a Hero
A Tale of Two Profiles
The Racism We All Carry
Tragedy. Call. Compassion. Response.
[BACK TO ME]
Bad Feminist: Take One
Bad Feminist: Take Two

Acknowledgements

Who besides Hank Davis knew there were so many science fiction stories about Christmas! Here are two volumes of Yuletide stories with a wide variety so there’s something here for everyone. Some of the stories are classics, some are recent. I liked Manly Wade Wellman’s “On the Hills and Everywhere” as well as S. N. Dyer’s “Space Aliens Saved My Marriage.” If you’re looking for something to ignite your Holiday Cheer, these stories will do it!
TABLES OF CONTENTS:
VOLUME 1:
KRIS KRINGLE GOES KOSMIC by Hank Davis
DANCE IN BLUE by Catherine Asaro
LOBO, ACTUALLY by Mark L. Van Name
ON THE HILLS AND EVERYWHERE by Manly Wade Wellman
ANGEL IN FLIGHT by Sarah H. Hoyt
MAD HOLIDAY by George O. Smith
THE GRIMNOIR CHRONICLES: DETROIT CHRISTMAS by Larry Correia
THE VAMPIRES WHO SAVED CHRISTMAS by S. N. Dyer
AND VISIONS OF SUGAR PLUMS . . . by S. N. Dyer
THE SEASON OF FOREGIVENESS by Poul Anderson
DUMB FEAST by Mercedes Lackey
ROADS by Seabury Quinn
NEWSLETTER by Connie Willis
VOLUME 2:
•Introduction: the shape of Christmas to come / by Hank Davis
• Angel of light / by Joe Haldeman
• And to all a good night / by Tony Daniel
• Christmas card / by Connie Willis
• Away in a manger / by Wen Spencer
• Happy Birthday, dear Jesus / by Frederik Pohl
• Shepherds and wolves / by Sarah A. Hoyt
• In the psirit of Christmas / Tee Morris
• Wormhole magic / Marianne Plumridge
• A Christmas in amber / by Scott William Carter
• Space aliens saved my marriage / by S. N. Dyer
• Zwarte Piet’s tale / by Allen Steele
• How Thorvald the bloody-minded saved Christmas / By Esther Friesner
• Julian : a Christmas Storu / by Robert Charles Wilson.

You might might not think that a book with the title of Easy Death would be a Christmas book, but you’d be surprised. “Daniel Boyd” (alter-ego of famous DAPA-EM contributor Dan Stumpf) delivers an exciting armored car robbery, but of course there are complications. Getting away with the money in midst of a Christmas blizzard is just the beginning of the problems. The police pursuit and the schemes of competitors makes for edge-of-your-seat suspense. If you’re looking for a thriller with a dash of holiday cheer, pick up a copy of Easy Death.

To check out my review of the “Daniel Boyd” western, ‘Nada, just click here.

The strength of Risk Savvy: How to Make Good Decisions are in the examples Gerd Gigerenzer provides to interpreting medical information. His discussion of the PSA (Prostate-Specific Antigen) test to detect prostate cancer should be required reading. The same for interpreting the risks of breast cancer from mammogram results. I also found the data on investing in the Stock Market useful. If you’re interested in making better decisions, it starts with understanding the information affecting the decision. Risk Savvy includes plenty of practical examples and advice to help improve decision making. GRADE: B+
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Part I The Psychology of Risk p. ix
1 Are People Stupid? p. 1
2 Certainty Is an Illusion p. 17
3 Defensive Decision Making p. 43
4 Why Do We Fear What’s Unlikely to Kill Us? p. 67
Part II Getting Risk Savvy p. 83
5 Mind Your Money p. 85
6 Leadership and Intuition p. 106
7 Fun and Games p. 125
8 Getting to the Heart of Romance p. 142
9 What Doctors Need to Know p. 159
10 Health Care: No Decision About Me Without Me p. 187
11 Banks, Cows, and Other Dangerous Things p. 225
Part III Start Early p. 243
12 Revolutionize School p. 245
Acknowledgments p. 263
Glossary p. 265
Notes p. 279
References p. 297
Index p. 311

The Fall 2014 TV season has been terrible. The new shows not only were disappointing, several have been canceled after just a few episodes (MANHATTAN LOVE STORY, SELFIE, etc.). Of the new Network TV programs, I’m only still watching THE FLASH and CONSTANTINE. Neither is “Must-See TV.” So I’m giving this new Bravo sit-com a try. Tonight’s first episode of GIRLFRIENDS’ GUIDE TO DIVORCE (10 P.M. EST) stars Lisa Edelstein (who was great in HOUSE as the Hospital Director), Janeane Garolfalo (who has made more Bad Career Decisions than Jennifer Aniston), and Beau Garrett (who I don’t know). I’ll give this series the usual four to five episodes before I make my decision to stay or go. Do any new TV programs entice you?

Randall Munroe takes a bunch of silly questions tries of answer them seriously. If you jumped out of a plane with a helium tank, could you inflate enough balloons to slow your fall and survive? (Yes) How many calories would you ingest if you ate a book? (around 2300). If you’re in the mood for something completely different and scientifically accurate, What If? is the book for you. There is plenty of clever writing here. This is the perfect book for those who are scientifically inclined. GRADE: A
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Global Windstorm 1
Relativistic Baseball 7
Spent Fuel Pool 10
Weird and Worrying Questions from the What If? Inbox 1 14
New YorkStyle Time Machine 15
Soul Mates 23
Laser Pointer 27
Periodic Wall of the Elements 35
Everybody Jump 43
A Mole of Moles 47
Hair Dryer 52
Weird and Worrying Questions from the What If? Inbox 2 60
The Last Human Light 61
MachineGun Jetpack 68
Rising Steadily 73
Weird and Worrying Questions from the What If? Inbox 3 77
Orbital Submarine 78
ShortAnswer Section 83
Lightning 89
Weird and Worrying Questions from the What If? Inbox 4 95
Human Computer 96
Little Planet 102
Steak Drop 107
Hockey Puck 112
Common Cold 114
Glass Half Empty 119
Weird and Worrying Questions from the What If? Inbox 5 125
Alien Astronomers 126
No More DNA 131
Interplanetary Cessna 137
Weird and Worrying Questions from the What If? Inbox 6 142
Yoda 143
Flyover States 146
Falling with Helium 150
Everybody Out 153
Weird and Worrying Questions from the What If? Inbox 7 157
SelfFertilization 158
High Throw 168
Lethal Neutrinos 174
Weird and Worrying Questions from the What If? Inbox 8 178
Speed Bump 179
Lost Immortals 183
Orbital Speed 187
FedEx Bandwidth 192
Free Fall 195
Weird and Worrying Questions from the What If? Inbox 9 199
Sparta 200
Drain the Oceans 204
Part II 210
Twitter 217
Lego Bridge 222
Longest Sunset 228
Random Sneeze Call 233
Weird and Worrying Questions from the What If? Inbox 10 236
Expanding Earth 237
Weightless Arrow 244
Sunless Earth 248
Updating a Printed Wikipedia 252
Facebook of the Dead 255
Sunset on the British Empire 259
Stirring Tea 262
All the Lightning 266
Loneliest Human 270
Weird and Worrying Questions from the What If? Inbox 11 273
Raindrop 274
SAT Guessing 278
Neutron Bullet 280
Weird and Worrying Questions from the What If? Inbox 12 289
Richter 15 290
Back Matter 297
Copyright

The 6-5 Buffalo Bills face the 7-4 Cleveland Browns today. A week ago, Ralph Wilson Stadium had six feet of snow in it (over 220 tons!). Today, the temperature is 54 degrees! Talk about Global Warming! Both teams need this game to keep their slim Playoff dreams alive. How will your favorite NFL team fare today?