Sometimes I’m in the mood for a good, thrilling historical novel. And, here are two of them: The Eyes of the Queen (2020) and The Queen’s Men (2021). The two books are subtitled: An Agents of the Crown Novel.

The Eyes of the Queen introduces Francis Walsingham, Queen Elizabeth I’s “principal private secretary” (aka, spy master). Mary Queen of Scots is under confinement but she’s busy plotting the assassination of Queen Elizabeth using her wiles to feed information on the Queen’s movements to her supporters.

Meanwhile, Walsingham recruits Queen Elizabeth’s tutor and sometime alchemist, Dr. Dee, to investigate the assassination plot. Dee discovers threads that lead to a group who recruited a sharpshooter who never misses. Only Dee can disrupt the assassination…if the assassin’s minions can be outwitted! GRADE: B

When Queen Elizabeth travels in a convoy through Waltham Forest at night, her carriage is ambushed by masked gunmen and riddled with holes. By chance, the Queen happened to be in a different carriage, but one of her ladies-in-waiting is killed. Walsingham suspects someone in the Royal Court is leaking information to the assassination team…but who?

Dr. Dee is called in again to assist the investigation. In addition, the Queen asks Dee to discover the formula for “Greek Fire,” a incendiary fluid famous for its ability to burn on water. With the threat of an invasion from Spain, the secret of “Greek Fire” might delay the Spanish Armada. In 1578, Dee has limited equipment and knowledge of how to re-invent the long-lost toxic substance. But, conspiracies swirl around the Royal Court as members of the Privy Council attack Walsingham for not solving the latest assassination attempt.

Dee finds himself drawn into a nefarious plot to “protect” the Queen…which could lead him to the gallows. While Walsingham urgent searches for the assassination team, Dee discovers that one of the gunman had a relationship with the dead lady-in-waiting. Following that clue leads to a mind-boggling plot to destroy the Queen and most of the Royal Court. If you’re looking for action and intrigue, The Eyes of the Queen and The Queen’s Men deliver more thrills than a roller-coaster! Are you a fan of historical fiction? GRADE: B+

Yesterday, I reviewed Jack Vance’s Alastor series. Splatterlight Books published this authorize “sequel” to Vance’s trilogy in 2019. In addition, Splatterlight published a “sequel” to Vance’s Demon Princes by Matthew Hughes, Barbarians of the Beyond (you can read my review here), in 2021.

A young man named Gunnar and his mother Justine arrive on the peculiar planet Phaedra after Gunnar’s father is killed on a military mission. Gunnar signs up for school and immediately is attracted by one of his classmates, a strange girl, Lavoine, who claims she’s a witch.

Phaedra features artifacts from the Elder Race that dominated the Galaxy before disappearing. Strange alien boats called Galleons sail the rivers of Phaedra. But Bad Things happen to anyone who tries to interfere with the Galleons progress.

Lavoine, with Gunnar and some friends, attempts to contact the Galleons with forbidden technology. The result sends Gunnar and Semele, a fierce huntress, to try to stop the return of the Elder Race and the destruction of humanity!

I enjoyed this intense adventure. Not only did Tais Teng write Phaedra: Alastor 824, he also painted the wrap-around cover! If you’re a Jack Vance fan, you’ll be entertained by this book. I hope Tais Teng writes more Alastor adventure novels! GRADE: B+

In 1995, TOR Books published an omnibus edition of Jack Vance’s Alastor novels. Alastor is a region of 30,000 stars in an area roughly 30 light-years in diameter. Trullion: Alastor 2262 (Ballantine, 1973), Marune: Alastor 933 (Ballantine, 1975), and Wyst: Alastor 1716 (DAW, 1978), each named after a world in the cluster. Vance planned a fourth novel Pharism: Alastor 458, but it was never written.

Trillion: Alastor 2262 follows the adventures of Glinnes Hulden, a young man who served in the Whelm–the military agency of the Connatic (who rules the Alastor Sector from his palace on Lusz)–and then retires to his home on Trillion. Glinnes arrives to find his twin brother, Glay, has sold the family homestead without his approval. Glinnes tries various strategies to earn the money to recover the land, but the only avenue he’s successful at is playing a team game called hussade. A conspiracy involving starmenters (aka, space pirates) changes Glinnes’ fortunes. GRADE: B

Marine: Alastor 933 opens on Bruse-Tansel, Alastor 1102 at the Carfaunge spaceport. A young man is found who claims he’s lost his memory. With help, the young man reaches the Connatic’s Hospital on Lusz. Although the doctors fail to restore the man’s memory, they determine the man’s origin: he is a member of a group called Rhunes on Marine, Alastor 933. The young man travels to Marine and discovers his identity: he’s Efraim, the Eighteenth Kairark of Scharrode.

Efraim’s return isn’t welcomed by everyone. Efraim’s father died in a military encounter so Efraim now succeeds him as leader. But political machinations, treachery, and murder threaten Efraim. I found the amnesia aspect skillfully manipulated by Jack Vance to produce a powerful conclusion. GRADE: B+

Wyst: Alastor 1716 begins with a strange interview between The Whispers of Wyst and the Connatic on Lusz. The Whispers are leaders, but the Connatic senses something is very wrong on Wyst. The story then shifts to Jantiff Ravenstroke, a talented artist on Zeck, Alastor 503. Jantiff decides to visit Wyst to pursue his artistic ambitions. What Jantiff encounters on Wyst is a society that disdains work and exceptionalism. Early on, Jantiff’s painting supples are stolen–a normal occurrence on Wyst–in the cause of “equality.”

Jack Vance plunges Jantiff, a naive young man, into a conspiracy with massive implications. Jantiff loses everything and Vance paints his hero into such a corner only a deus ex Machina solution resolves all the plot entanglements. GRADE: B-

The Alastor novels center around young men in desperate situations in very strange societies. I enjoyed the series and wish Vance had written more novels with this formula.

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Compulsory Games
Le Miroir
Raising the Wind
Residents Only
Hands in Glove
Wood
Laura
Just a Song at Twilight
Letters to the Postman
Marriage
No Time Is Passing
The Strangers
The Fully-Conducted Tour
A Disciple of Plato
The Coffin House

A few weeks ago, I featured Robert Aickman’s Painted Devils: Strange Stories (you can read my review here).

A few weeks ago, I reviewed Robert Aickman’s short story collection, Painted Devils (you can read what I had to say here). It took me a few weeks to find my copy of Aickman’s Compulsory Games, the New York Review of Books volume that collects some brilliant stories from Aickman’s previous books.

For readers unfamiliar with Robert Aickman’s work, Compulsory Games would be a great place to start. In her insightful Introduction, Victoria Nelson notes that Aickman himself characterized his fiction as “strange stories.” And, strange they are!

Take “Hand in Glove” for an example. Millicent has broken up with Nigel and Millicent’s odd friend, Winifred, takes Millicent for a picnic in a surreal country town. Aspects of loss and lies result and Millicent finds herself in a menacing situation. Or take the title story, “Compulsory Games,” where a man in a tired marriage nearly falls into an affair with a friend, only to be rebuffed near the point of consummation. From this point forward that he’s punished, not in any overt way, but through the slow withdrawal of his wife via that same friend, 

One of my favorite stories in this collection–which easily could have been titled The Best of Robert Aickman–is “Le Miroir” where a woman has an eerie attraction to a looking glass. If you’re in the mood for the unusual and offbeat, you’ll find it in Compulsory Games. GRADE: A

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Introduction: Under the Skin by Victoria Nelson — vii

• Compulsory Games — 1
• Hand in Glove — 25
• Marriage — 51
• Le Miroir — 84
• No Time in Passing — 95
• Raising the Wind — 120
• Residents Only — 130
• Wood — 179
• The Strangers — 204
• The Coffin House — 253
• Letters to the Postman — 258
• Laura — 296
• The Fully-Conducted Tour — 306
• A Disciple of Plato — 313
• Just a Song at Twilight — 327

The new Criterion Collection version of Miller’s Crossing blends classic noir fiction with Joel and Ethan Coen’s trademark sparkling dialogue, off-beat characters, and violent action. Here’s a summary:

“Gabriel Byrne brings a wry gravitas to the role of Tom Reagan, the quick-thinking right-hand man to a powerful crime boss (Albert Finney). Tom’s unflappable cool is tested when he begins offering his services to a rival outfit—setting off a cascade of betrayals, reprisals, and increasingly berserk violence. The Hopperesque visuals of cinematographer Barry Sonnenfeld, majestically elegiac score by Carter Burwell, and vivid supporting performances from John Turturro and Marcia Gay Harden come together in a slice of pulp perfection that crackles with sardonic wit while plumbing existential questions about free will and our own terrifying capacity for evil.”

Of course the real reason I bought Miller’s Crossing was the conversation between Megan Abbott and the Coen’s film noir and crime fiction. Great movie, great conversation! GRADE: A

DIRECTOR-APPROVED BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES:

• 2K digital restoration, approved by director of photography Barry Sonnenfeld and filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen, with new 5.1 surround soundtrack mix, presented in DTS-HD Master Audio
• New conversation between author Megan Abbott and the Coens about film noir and hard-boiled crime fiction
• New interview with actors Gabriel Byrne and John Turturro, moderated by Abbott
• Interviews from 1990 with Byrne, Turturro, and actors Marcia Gay Harden and Jon Polito
• New interviews with Sonnenfeld, composer Carter Burwell, music editor Todd Kasow, and production designer Dennis Gassner
• English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• PLUS: An essay by film critic Glenn Kenny
  
  New cover illustration by Patrick Leger

“In the days and weeks after Election Day on November 3, the President was deserted by his aides and staff. The legal establishment, at least anyone in it with a promising career, abandoned him. His hapless band of co-conspirators are too lazy or too drunk or cynical to develop a credible strategy or execute one. It was a a shit show–ludicrous, inexplicable, cringeworthy, nuts, event for the people who felt most loyal to him. The election challenge never had a chance of success.” (p. xiv)

“[Sidney Powell] had been telling Giuliani and the team that the conspiracy ran even deeper: Trump’s landslide victory was upended by an international plot. Former Venezuelan present Hugo Chavez (dead since 2013), George Soros, the Clinton Foundation, and the Chinese had masterminded the plot to steal the election from [Trump]. Oh, and the voting software routed the realists through Germany, exposing the tabulation to nefarious elements there!” (p. 114)

“On Saturday, November 21, two days after Giuliani’s hair dye meltdown at the RNC press conference, U. S. Court District judge Matthew Brann, in Pennsylvania, denied the Trump effort to have millions of mail-in ballots thrown out because of small inconsistencies, from county to country, in the filing process. …[Judge Brann wrote] the claim, ‘like Frankenstein’s monster, has been haphazardly stitched together.'” (p. 124)

With Trump traipsing around the country praising Putin–“A genius!”–and positioning himself for a run for President in 2024, I thought it was instructive to read Michael Wolff’s Landslide: The Final Days of the Trump Presidency to revisit those dark days that culminated in the Attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021. The desperate efforts to overturn the Election, the failure to concede to Biden, the launching of the Big Lie (the Election was stolen!) strategy, and total lack of interest in the Pandemic punctuated the Lame Duck period until Biden’s Inauguration.

With the Russian-Ukraine War raging, historically high gas prices, Inflation out of control, and Republican states targeting LGBTQ students (“Don’t Say Gay!), things look bleak. Where do you think we’re headed? GRADE: B+

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Introduction xiii

Prologue: The Trial 1

1 Death Star 9

2 Election Night 43

3 New Votes 64

4 Rudy 92

5 What’s Black Is White 121

6 Where Now? 143

7 The Endgame 163

8 The Day Before 189

9 Morning, January 6 213

10 The Remainder Of The Day, January 6 229

11 Deplatformed 251

12 Redux 272

Epilogue: The Road To Mar-A-Lago 291

Acknowledgments 311

“A fruity, lightly spiced apple pie with a dollop of cream pairs nicely with this pear-inflected, softly sweet and vivaciously semi-sparkling Moscato d’Asti from the Piemontese producer Vietti. Produced from vineyards that are almost 40 years old, its low in alcohol (5%) but long on pleasure and very, very easy to drink.”

That’s the review in the Wall Street Journal that motivated me to buy a bottle of Vietti Moscato d’Asti. And, I totally agree with the reviewer! Vietti Moscato d’Asti is a softly sweet and vivaciously semi-sparkling white wine that’s simply delicious!

If you’re interested in other wine and dessert pairings, you can read the full review here. GRADE: A

I’m not a big fan of coffee table books, but this gorgeous volume celebrating Godine Press will grace my coffee table for years! A couple dozen Godine Press books sit on my shelves. I found Godine books wonderfully produced with unique cover artwork and quality materials.

The first Godine book I bought was in 1982. It was a quirky mystery by K. C. Constantine: The Man Who Liked Slow Tomatoes. I went on to purchase the next eight Mario Balzic mysteries Godine published. Balzic, chief of police in Rocksburg, Pennsylvania, investigates crimes in a small coal mining town in Western Pennsylvania. Why K. C. Constantine isn’t in the conversation with Michael Connelly and Laura Lippman and other top writers baffles me.

Edmund Wilson, George Orwell, Donald Hall, Iris Origo, Paul Horgan, William Gass, Will Cuppy, Ludwig Bemelmans, William Maxwell, Wright Morris, and Paula Fox are just some of the writers you’ll find between well designed and beautifully printed Godine covers. Are you a fan of Godine Books? Do you have a favorite? GRADE: A

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Introduction & Brief History of the Press — vii

1. Early Letterpress & Fine Printing — 1

2. Wood Cut & Wood Engraving — 10

3. Fiction — 17

4. Short Stories — 29

5. Literature in Translation — 36

6. Poetry — 43

7. Essay and Criticism — 58

8. Words, Language and Usage — 69

9. Biography & Autobiography — 73

10. History — 90

11. Photography — 105

12. Art — 124

13. Architecture — 135

14. Children’s Books — 147

15. Nautical & Maritime — 173

16. Music — 185

17. Gardening — 197

18. Cooking and Cuisine — 207

19. Typography — 213

20. Calligraphy — 231

21. Natural History — 239

22. Humor — 249

23. The Sporting Life — 253

24. Outliers & Other Works of Unclassifiable but Undeniable Genius — 257

Posters — 262

Ephemera — 264

Bindings — 265

Typographers, Calligraphers, & Designers — 266

Index — 267