“There were four albums in the first three or four years of Prince’s twenties. He got a lot of good reviews for the third album, Dirty Mind–in The Village Voice, Robert Christgau gave it an A rating and said that ‘Mick Jagger should fold up his penis and go home.'” (p. 42-43)

Nick Hornby–novelist whose High Fidelity, About a Boy, and Juliet, Naked are favorites of mine–loves Charles Dickens’s novels and Prince’s music. In Dickens and Prince Hornby compares the two geniuses, there are a lot of similarities, and shows why their work will endure.

Both Dickens and Prince were workaholics. Hornby estimates that Dickens wrote over 4 million words and Prince wrote over a thousand songs. But, despite their productivity, both Dickens and Prince had money problems. “Prince and Dickens both earned a lot, but they had a lot of commitments, too. Paisley Park, Prince’s private estates, with its studios and its soundstage, its wardrobe department and its vegan chef, cost him $2.5 million a month…” (p. 113)

“Dickens had his 10 children, a mistress and her family as well as a wife, and a feckless father who aways needed bailing out. His brothers could never support themselves. He had orphaned nieces and nephews. His sons were hopeless, and his sister-in-law looked after his household after his marital separation. He gave money to friends, and dependents of friends, and supported over forty different charities, with time or work or straightforward gifts of money.” (p. 113-114). Both men were Big Spenders.

Both men had complicated relationships with women. Hornby estimates Prince dated over 2000 women–and married two (neither marriage worked out). Prince also produced albums of songs for his current girlfriends…some good, some bad. Dickens separated from Catherine after 22 years of marriage (and who was the mother of his 10 children) after meeting 18-year-old Nelly Ternan. Dickens was in his 40s when this went down.

I found Dickens and Prince to be a fascinating book about two incredible artists. Are you a fan of Dickens and Prince? GRADE: A

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations xiii

Introduction 1

Childhood 17

Their Twenties 29

The Movies 55

The Working Life 71

The Business 93

Women 117

The End 135

Acknowledgments 163

Select Bibliography 165

Permissions 167

Credits 169

“Once, in college, you might have studied Mansfield Park by looking closely at its form, references, style, and special marks of authorial genius—the way Vladimir Nabokov famously taught the novel, and an intensification of the way a reader on the subway experiences the book. Now you might write a paper about how the text enacts a tension by both constructing and subtly undermining the imperial patriarchy through its descriptions of landscape. What does this have to do with how most humans read? “

“The Death of the English Major” by Nathan Heller (you can read the entire article here) was published in The New Yorker February 27, 2023 issue. I read it and have considered Heller’s analysis–and there’s a lot of it!–for six weeks. Heller cites plenty of statistics to support his case that English departments face a death-spiral as students chose STEM majors instead of humanities majors. Right now, only 7% of college students chose to be English majors.

I graduated as an English Major (and a Political Science and Philosophy Major; Journalism and Education minors) in 1971. When I started working on my PhD. in English in 1991, I realized a lot of change had occurred in the focus of English Departments in 20 years. Jacques Derrida (1930–2004), the founder of “deconstruction,” a way of criticizing not only both literary and philosophical texts but society dominated the approach to teaching…and learning. Other literary theorists like de Man, Foucault, John Searle, Willard Van Orman Quine, Peter Kreeft, and Jürgen Habermas changed  the analysis of literary texts to applications of conceptual apparatus.

Here’s a sample of Derrida’s prose: “The enterprise of returning ‘strategically’, ‘ideally’, to an origin or to a priority thought to be simple, intact, normal, pure, standard, self-identical, in order then to think in terms of derivation, complication, deterioration, accident, etc. All metaphysicians, from Plato to Rousseau, Descartes to Husserl, have proceeded in this way, conceiving good to be before evil, the positive before the negative, the pure before the impure, the simple before the complex, the essential before the accidental, the imitated before the imitation, etc. And this is not just one metaphysical gesture among others, it is the metaphysical exigency, that which has been the most constant, most profound and most potent.”  My eyes glaze over quickly when reading this style of writing.

Back in the 1970s, my English courses required term papers that centered on the novel or poem or essay with a large dollop of the concerns of the author mixed in. The intent was to help the students learn to write better and explore aspects of the literary work. In the 1990s, the term papers now danced with notions of gender identity, power relationships, and political/legal entanglements.

Most of the students in my Business Administration classes had one goal: learn skills and knowledge that would lead to a well paying job. I suspect most students view the contemporary English Departments with their abstract view of literature and writing to be a non-starter in their job search. Were you an English Major? Did you enjoy your English classes? GRADE: A

If you’re in the mood for something completely different, you might want to catch an episode of Mrs. Davis on Peacock. Imagine blending The Flying Nun with James Bond!  Damon Lindelof and Tara Hernandez’s 8-episode series Mrs. Davis, starring Betty Gilpin as an action-hero nun, is the rare TV series that feels confusing at first but makes sense as the twisty plot untangles with plenty of surprises.

Betty Gilpin (aka, Lizzie) is now Sister Simone. We first meet Simone as she rides into a situation on a white horse! We soon learn the world is now run by an Artificial Intelligence called Mrs. Davis who Simone wants to kill because she blames Mrs. Davis for her father’s death.

What chance has a nun with few resources have against an all-powerful AI? A better chance than you think. Four of the eight episodes are available now. I’m intrigued by the innovative aspects of Mrs. Davis. GRADE: INCOMPLETE but trending towards a B+

Stark House’s latest omnibus edition of Carter Brown’s Al Wheeler mysteries collects #19, #20 and #21: The Temptress (1960), Lament for a Lousy Lover (1960), and The Stripper (1961). And yes, I read all three of these mysteries when they were first published in the U.S.–I was 12 years old. I’m sure the covers had something to do with my fascination with Carter Brown’s Al Wheeler series.

Last year, Greg Shepard–the Editor and Publisher of Stark House–asked me if I would like to write an introduction to this latest volume in the Al Wheeler mystery series. I immediately accepted his kind offer and wrote “How Carter Brown Sold 100 Million Books.” I used to teach a college course in Marketing and several excellent marketing strategies resulted in the sale of millions of Carter Brown titles. Before I sent Greg my Introduction, I asked Art Scott to read my work and comment on it. Art’s suggestions for improvements enhanced the final draft. Thanks again, Art!

In The Temptress, Leutenant Al Wheeler, assigned to solve the murder of the private detective, discovers the P.I. was hired to follow a rich woman’s rebellious daughter and her druggie boyfriend. Add to the mix a strange uncle, and shake well. GRADE: B

Lament for a Lousy Lover–my favorite mystery in this volume–features both Lieutenant Al Wheeler and dipsy yet sexy Mavis Seidlitz in an investigation of the murder of a TV western actor. You’ll love the comic interplay between Al and Mavis! GRADE: A

Al Wheeler has his hands full with Deadpan Doris in The Stripper. A young woman’s apparent suicide leads Wheeler to probe a suspicious lonely hearts club run by Mr and Mrs Arkwright. The action alternates between the strip club and the lonely hearts club until Wheeler cracks the case. GRADE: B+

If you’re a Carter Brown fan, this is a must-buy! If you’re looking for mysteries with humor and sexy shenanigans, don’t miss The Temptress / Lament for a Lousy Lover / The Stripper!

I liked James Taylor’s music early on. This 2-CD live recording from 1993 includes most of Taylor’s hits from the Sixties, Seventies, and Eighties. I like Taylor’s cover of an old favorite, “Handy Man.” I also like Taylor’s singing on Art Garfunkel’s cover of “(What a) Wonderful World” in 1978 with Paul Simon which isn’t on this collection.

James Taylor also wrote many of the songs on this live recording. I love “Mexico” and

• Rainy Day Man” (1967) …
• “Something in the Way She Moves” (1968) …
• “Carolina in My Mind” (1968) …
• “Sweet Baby James” (1970) …
• “Steamroller” (1970) …
• “You’ve Got a Friend” (1971) …
• “Walking Man” (1974) …
• “A Junkie’s Lament” (1976)

Are you a James Taylor fan? Is your favorite James Taylor song on these CDs? GRADE: B+

TRACKLIST:

		Sweet Baby James	4:13
		Traffic Jam	2:11
		Handy Man	3:31
		Your Smiling Face	3:04
		Secret O’ Life	3:46
		Shed A Little Light	4:33
		Everybody Has The Blues	2:34
		Steamroller Blues	5:30
		Mexico	3:32
		Millworker	4:26
		Country Road	5:44
		Fire And Rain	4:45
		Shower The People	4:44
		How Sweet It Is	7:30
		New Hymn	3:01
		Walking Man	4:35
		Riding On A Railroad	2:42
		Something In The Way She Moves	3:59
		Sun On The Moon	3:54
		Up On The Roof	4:11
		Don’t Let Me Be Lonely Tonight	3:37
		She Thinks I Still Care	3:29
		Copperline	4:43
		Slap Leather	2:12
		Only One	4:42
		You Make It Easy	5:06
		Carolina In My Mind	5:05
		I Will Follow	4:14
		You’ve Got A Friend	5:09
		That Lonesome Road	2:46

Michael Gallatin, a werewolf, first showed up in The Wolf’s Hour,  a 1989 World War II horror novel by American writer Robert R. McCammon. The British secret agent is sent behind German lines to stop a secret weapon from being launched against the Allies. The fact that the British agent is a werewolf spices up the dangerous mission.

In 2011, Subterranean Press published The Hunter From the Woods, a collection of stories about Gallanin including “The Great White Way,” Gallatin’s origin story. You might wonder why a werewolf would agree to become a British secret agent and risk his life fighting the Nazis. McCammon provides a suitable rationale. He also creates a sympathetic werewolf who takes a lot of punishment in his missions against the Third Reich.

My favorite story in The Hunter From the Woods is “Sea Chase” where Gallatin’s mission is to protect a German arms expert and his family who are defecting while the tramp freighter they’re on is pursed by an armed German ship. I loved the desperate crossing across the English Channel with the German ship closing in for the kill. Very suspenseful!

“The Wolf and the Eagle,” with its horrific scenes of survival in the desert, and “The Room at the Bottom of the Stairs,” where Gallanin falls in love with a beautiful Nazi journalist, show the range of McCammon’s story-telling. AMAZON offers this Subterranean edition for $80. But, your local Library might have a copy. GRADE: B+

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

The great white way — 11

The man from London — 23

Sea chase — 41

The wolf and the eagle — 135

The room at bottom of the stairs — 201

Death of a hunter — 315

The Box Office for The Super Mario Bros. Movie, after a mere two weeks, is $700 million dollars. That just demonstrates the power of nostalgia and ILLUMINATION’s style of animation.

Directed by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic and written by Matthew Fogel, The Super Mario Bros. Movie blends aspects of the Super Mario video games. The ensemble voice cast includes Chris Pratt, Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlie Day, Jack Black, Keegan-Michael Key, Seth Rogen, and Fred Armisen. The film begins with an origin story for the brothers Mario and Luigi, Italian-American plumbers who are transported to an alternate world and become entangled in a battle between the Mushroom Kingdom, led by Princess Peach, and the Koopas, led by evil Bowser.

My favorite part of The Super Mario Bros. Movie was the Battle for Brooklyn. And, of course, the music. Are you a Super Mario fan? Are you planning to see this movie? GRADE: B

SOUNDTRACK LIST:

No.	Title	Length
1.	“Super Mario Bros. Opus”	6:42
2.	“Press Start”	2:38
3.	“King of the Koopas”	3:33
4.	“Plumbin’ Ain’t Easy”	1:16
5.	“It’s a Dog Eat Plumber World”	1:15
6.	“Saving Brooklyn”	1:47
7.	“The Warp Pipe”	2:05
8.	“Strange New World”	2:03
9.	“The Darklands”	2:20
10.	“Welcome to the Mushroom Kingdom”	2:18
11.	“2 Player Game”	5:07
12.	“The Mushroom Council”	2:07
13.	“The Plumber and the Peach”	1:21
14.	“Platforming Princess”	1:39
15.	“World 1-1”	2:34
16.	“The Adventure Begins”	3:04
17.	“Peaches” (written by Aaron Horvath, Eric Osmond, John Spiker and Michael Jelenic; performed by Jack Black)	1:35
18.	“Lost and Crowned”	1:39
19.	“Imprisoned”	2:54
20.	“Courting the Kongs”	2:00
21.	“Drivin’ Me Bananas”	1:20
22.	“Rumble in the Jungle”	3:59
23.	“Karts!”	1:51
24.	“Practice Makes Perfect”	1:00
25.	“Buckle Up”	1:31
26.	“Rainbow Road Rage”	3:31
27.	“Blue Shelled”	2:26
28.	“An Indecent Proposal”	3:24
29.	“The Belly of the Beast”	1:23
30.	“Fighting Tooth and Veil”	3:45
31.	“Tactical Tanooki”	2:22
32.	“Mario Brothers Rap” (written by Haim Saban and Shuki Levy; performed by Ali Dee)	0:58
33.	“Grapple in the Big Apple”	3:40
34.	“Superstars”	1:39
35.	“The Super Mario Brothers”	1:27
36.	“Bonus Level”	1:01
37.	“Level Complete”	2:32
Total length:	87:46

“In support of his job application, he lectured at at the Unisersita del Popolo on Robinson Crusoe. That talk may be the single greatest lecture on an individual novel ever given. Its final lines are as loaded with treasure as anything in his novels: ‘Saint John the Evangelist saw on the island of Patmos the apocalyptic collapse of the universe and raising up the wall of the eternal city splendid with beryl and emerald, onyx and jasper, sapphires and rubies. Crusoe  saw but one marvel in all the fertile creation that surrounded him, a naked footprint in the virgin sand: and who knows if the latter does not matter more than the former?’ He wrote that and it didn’t matter. The invigilators in Padua denied him the diploma beause they didn’t recognize his Irish degree.” (p. 25-26)

The “he”–as you might have guessed–is James Joyce. Joyce struggled to get his work published because few people understood his masterpieces.

From Dostoevsky–who was almost executed in front of a firing squad–to Hemingway and Fitzgerald–who drank themselves into depression–to Nabokov who had Lolita rejected so many times he had to agree to let a French pornography publisher print it, Stephen Marche illustrates his link between failure and writing with all of these sanity-crushing examples of great writing and great writers dealing with disappointment and disinterest.

Legendary rejections (multiple times!) of Harry Potter, Animal Farm, Herman Melville’s work. Jane Austen never saw her name on one of her novels…only identified as “By a Lady.”

I was most moved by Marche’s description of Samuel Johnson’s grueling life of never making enough money to support himself and his wife so he took every writing assignment that came his way–no matter how trivial–in order to pay his bills and stay alive.

On Writing and Failure: Or, On the Peculiar Perseverance Required to Endure the Life of a Writer proves to me at least that Writing is, and always will be, an act defined by failure and rejection. GRADE: A

I’ve read a couple of Aliette de Bodard’s SF novels set in her Xuya Universe. My favorite was The Tea Master and The Detective (you can read my review here) which was a 2018 Nebula Award winner.

The Red Scholar’s Wake is subtitled “A Xuya Universe Romance” which is clarified by Katee Robert’s blurb on the cover: “Lesbian Space Pirates. Enough said!” And, she’s right. Tech scavenger Xich Si is attacked by space pirates and her ship is destroyed. Sich Si is captured and imprisoned…but then she’s offered an incredible proposition. Rice Fish, the sentient spaceship, needs an expert to investigate the death of her first wife, the Red Scholar. But first, the human and the AI need to be married.

The future is just as greedy and messy as the present as the various pirate bands compete against each other. Assassinations are common. What makes this mashup of Space Opera and detective fiction different is the marriage of Xich Si and Rice Fish.

I suspect some readers will be puzzled by the romance. I know I became impatient with all the political maneuverings with the pirates. A little more action and fewer sighs would have suited me just fine. GRADE: B-

The musical series’ sophomore season picks up with Josh (Keegan-Michael Key) and Melissa (Cecily Strong) after they found love in Schmigadoon in Season 1 (you can read my review here). In this second part of their story, Josh and Melissa find in Schmicago, the “reimagined world” of ’60s and ’70s musicals.

Returning cast include Cecily Strong, Keegan-Michael Key, Ariana DeBose, Martin Short, Dove Cameron, Jaime Camil, Kristin Chenoweth, Alan Cumming, Ann Harada, Jane Krakowski, and Aaron Tveit. New cast members include actors Tituss Burgess and Patrick Page.

If you’re a fan of Broadway musicals, this series of six episodes features plenty of songs and dancing and fun! GRADE: INCOMPLETE but trending towards an A