Subterranean Press rendered us all a big favor by reprinting these Jack Vance mysteries in one handsome hardcover edition. Desperate Days includes The Fox Valley Murders, The Pleasant Grove Murders, and The Dark Ocean . All three books were written in the 1960s (The Dark Ocean was finally published in 1985) when Jack Vance was at height of his powers. Sheriff Joe Bain of Central California’s San Rodrigo County figures in The Fox Valley Murders, The Pleasant Grove Murders. The Dark Ocean tells the story of a young woman and her dangerous stalker. For more information on Desperate Days just click here.

In our unending quest to stimulate the U.S. economy before we fall off the Fiscal Cliff, I bought the DELL XPS One 2710 all-in-one computer. No computer tower: everything is in the monitor. And I really LOVE the 27 inch high-definition monitor! Yes, there are some annoyances. I have to learn Windows 8. I’m just bumbling around so far using the touch screen. Patrick needs to install the Microsoft Ergonomic keyboard before he leaves for Peru. Right now, I’m using the Chiclet keyboard that came with the DELL. I HATE Chiclet keyboards! After just a day of using the new DELL XPS One 2710 I can testify that it’s lightning fast. If you’re looking for a new computer, I recommend this DELL.

This slim volume contains three gems: “A Christmas Memory,” “One Christmas” and “The Thanksgiving Visitor.” “A Christmas Memory” shows Capote’s childhood in rural Alabama in the 1930s. “One Christmas” revolves around a six-year-old narrator who is the child of divorced parents. The boy travels to New Orleans by bus to spend Christmas with his father. In the last story, “The Thanksgiving Visitor” Miss Sook, Capote’s cousin, invites the school bully to Thanksgiving dinner one year and tells what happened. For a little 100-page book, A Christmas Memory packs plenty of surprises and delights. GRADE: A

The Bills ran for the bus last week in Toronto. I’m expecting another lame performance today in Miami as the hapless Bills just play out the season. Fan pressure is building to fire Head Coach Chan Gailey. But who would want to coach for a franchise plagued with a culture of losing for the past 13 seasons? What’s up with your favorite NFL team? Are you getting ready for the Playoffs or are you contemplating your team’s NFL Draft situation?

If you’re a Monty Python fan (like me!) or still have a Monty Python fanatic still on your shopping list, this book is an essential purchase. Luke Dempsey annotates all 45 Monty Python episodes. This 880 page book has 2000 photos and almost as many laughs. This volume is a browser’s delight! Who wouldn’t welcome Monty Python’s Flying Circus: Complete and Annotated under their tree? GRADE: A

I know it’s hard to believe, but when I was a youngster I was not a reader. My Mom worried about this and then for Christmas, she gave me a copy of Tom Swift and the Caves of Nuclear Fire. I read the book the same day and asked for more. The next day she took to a department store that had children’s books and bought me three more Tom Swift books. Those books ignited a passion for reading that burns in me today. After I had read all the Tom Swift books, I moved on to the Hardy Boys. This started a love of mysteries that I still enjoy today. Later, I found out my favorite Hardy Boy mysteries (the original 22) were written by Leslie McFarlane. The later books in the Hardy Boy series didn’t have the impact of those early volumes. I moved on to the Rick Brant series (but that’s another story). Did the Hardy Boys influence your reading? Check out the original book covers above).
Hardy Boy books attributed to Leslie McFarlane:
The Tower Treasure (1927)
The House on the Cliff (1927)
The Secret of the Old Mill (1927)
The Missing Chums (1928)
Hunting for Hidden Gold (1928)
The Shore Road Mystery (1928)
The Secret of the Caves (1929)
The Mystery of Cabin Island (1929)
The Great Airport Mystery (1930)
What Happened at Midnight (1931)
While the Clock Ticked (1932)
Footprints under the Window (1933)
The Mark on the Door (1934)
The Hidden Harbor Mystery (1935)
The Sinister Signpost (1936)
A Figure in Hiding (1937)
The Secret Warning (1938) (unintentional collaboration with John Button)
The Flickering Torch Mystery (1943)
The Melted Coins (1944)
The Short-Wave Mystery (1945)
The Secret Panel (1946)
The Phantom Freighter (1947)
It seems like yesterday when I began contributing to Patti Abbott’s Friday Forgotten Books. But this is my 200th posting and I want to thank you all for reading these missives about great books of the past.

You guessed it: I’m a sucker for a book like The Art of the Epigraph. Rosemary Ahern collects 250 examples of the quotations, song lyrics, invented snippets, and jokes that launch some of our greatest books. Ahern organizes the epigraphs by themes: Life, Tell the Truth, Love, The River of Time, etc. If your favorite writers include Flaubert, Edith Wharton, Virginia Woolf, Patti Smith, George Eliot, Vladimir Nabokov, C. S. Lewis, Lorrie Moore, Samuel Johnson, Karl Marx, Susan Sontag, and Mary Higgins Clark you’ll really enjoy this book. I did. GRADE: A

Here’s a gift suggestion for that hard-to-buy-for gamer on your shopping list: The Greatest Video Game Music. These two volumes present much of the best video game music out there (check out the Track Lists below). The London Philharmonic Orchestra gives the music more gravitas than many video game themes probably deserve, but if you’re a fan of this type of music (much of it has a military sound…lots of drums!) these two CDs should delight you. Check out the sample below, too.
TRACK LISTING:
Volume One:
1. Advent Rising: Muse
2. Legend of Zelda: Suite
3. Call of Duty – Modern Warfare 2: Theme
4. Angry Birds: Main Theme
5. Final Fantasy VIII: Liberi Fatali
6. Super Mario Bros: Themes
7. Uncharted – Drake s Fortune: Nate’s Theme
8. Grand Theft Auto IV: Soviet Connection
9. World of Warcraft: Seasons of War
10. Metal Gear Solid: Sons of Liberty Theme
11. Tetris Theme
12. Battlefield 2: Theme
13. Elder Scrolls: Oblivion
14. Call of Duty 4 – Modern Warfare: Main Menu Theme
15. Mass Effect: Suicide Mission
16. Splinter Cell: Conviction
17. Final Fantasy: Main Theme
18. Bioshock: The Ocean on his Shoulders
19. Halo 3: One Final Effort
20. Fallout 3: Theme
21. Super Mario Galaxy: Gusty Garden Galaxy
VOLUME TWO:
1. Assassin’s Creed – Revelations: Main Theme 4:47
2. Elder Scrolls – Skyrim: Far Horizons 5:15
3. Legend of Zelda – the Windwaker: Dragon Roost Island 3:40
4. Final Fantasy VII: One-Winged Angel 4:11
5. Mass Effect 3: a Future For the Krogan/An End Once and For All 4:56
6. Halo: Never Forget/Peril 3:49
7. Sonic the Hedgehog: a Symphonic Suite 6:22
8. Chrono Trigger: Main Theme 3:11
9. Luigi’s Mansion: Main Theme 3:14
10. Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep: Fate of the Unknown 3:33
11. Super Metroid: a Symphonic Poem 5:49
12. Diablo III: Overture 3:55
13. Batman Arkham City: Main Theme 2:57
14. Deus Ex-Human Revolution: Icarus Main Theme 3:48
15. Fez: Adventure 3:28
16. Portal: Still Alive 3:07
17. Little Big Planet: Orb of Dreamers (The Cosmic Imagisphere)