Probably the best known story in this collection is Alfred Bester’s classic “Star Light, Star Bright” about a gifted but dangerous child. I enjoyed Charles L. Harness’s clever time-travel story, “Child by Chronos.” Anthony Boucher’s story about a little demon, “Snulbug,” has lost none of its charm over the decades.

In these early The Best From Fantasy and Science Fiction volumes, the editors were partial to L. Sprague de Camp and Fletch Pratt’s Gavagan’s Bar stories (like “The Untimely Toper”) and Manly Wade Wellman’s Silver John stories (like “Vandy, Vandy” where an obsessive brand of Love leads to strangeness). This Third Series volume contains several excellent stories and Boucher’s wonderful Introductions to all the stories. GRADE: B+

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Introduction / [Anthony Boucher, J. Francis McComas] — 7
Attitudes / Philip José Farmer — 13
Maybe just a little one / R. Bretnor — 35
The star gypsies / William Lindsay Gresham — 51
The untimely Toper / L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt — 69
Vandy, Vandy / Manly Wade Wellman — 79
Experiment / Kay Rogers — 96
Lot / Ward Moore — 100
Manuscript found in a vacuum / P.M. Hubbard — 131
The maladjusted classroom / H. Nearing, Jr. — 134
Child by Chronos / Charles L. Harness — 153
New ritual / Idris Seabright (aka,Margaret St. Clair — 172
Devlin / W.B. Ready — 182
Captive audience / Ann Warren Griffith — 197
Snulbug / Anthony Boucher — 213
Shepherd’s boy / Richard Middleton — 230
Star light, star bright / Alfred Bester — 233

TRACK LIST:

1	Sam And Dave*–	Hold On, I’m Comin’	2:26
2	Eddie Floyd–	Knock On Wood	3:01
3	The Staple Singers–	Respect Yourself	4:50
4	Carla Thomas–	B-A-B-Y	2:47
5	Shirley Brown–	Woman To Woman	3:53
6	The Soul Children*–	I’ll Be The Other Woman	3:31
7	Johnnie Taylor–	Cheaper To Keep Her	3:25
8	Little Milton–	That’s What Love Will Make You Do	3:56
9	William Bell–	I Forgot To Be Your Lover	2:39
10	Jean Knight–	Mr. Big Stuff	2:44
11	Rufus Thomas–	(Do The) Push And Pull, Part I	3:16
12	Booker T & The MGs*–	Green Onions	2:48
13	Mel And Tim*–	Starting All Over Again	3:27
14	The Dramatics–	In The Rain	5:06
15	The Emotions–	So I Can Love You	2:48
16	Otis Redding–	(Sittin’ On) The Dock Of The Bay	2:38
17	The Staple Singers–	I’ll Take You There	4:36
18	Johnnie Taylor–	Who’s Making Love	2:45
19	Frederick Knight–	Lonely For So Long	3:17
20	Isaac Hayes–	Theme From “Shaft”	4:34

After Motown music, I was a big fan of the artists at STAX Records. I own all of Isaac Hayes’s albums. Loved Otis Redding (who left us too soon) and Booker T & The MGs. Later, I discovered William Bell and Johnny Taylor.

Even Wal-Mart created a Pandemic TV commercial featuring Sam & Dave’s “Hold On, I’m Comin'” as the music background. If you’re looking for some great Soul Music, Top of the STAX–in the words of The Staple Singers–will take you there! How many of these songs do you remember? Any favorites? GRADE: A

Let the Green Beer flow!

After crash-landing on Earth, an alien takes on the identity and appearance of a small-town Colorado doctor. While the alien searches for parts that have broken off his starship when it hit the ground, he has to contend humans and their strange ways. The alien’s secret mission is in danger by a Government agency investigating alien sightings.

The alien also has to deal with a local 9-year-old boy (whose father is the Mayor of the town) who is the only person who can recognize he is an alien. Resident Alien is based on the comic book of the same name by Peter Hogan and Steve Parkhouse. This is plenty of fun if you like snarky humor with a touch of The X-Files. GRADE: B+

THINGS I “LIKED” FOR MEN

Star Trek

Victoria’s Secret

Herman Hesse

Aron Sorkin

TV in General

Frisbee Golf

Pink Floyd

Steely Dan

Jay-Z

Ultimate Frisbee

The Cardinals

The Browns

The Yankees

The Mets

The Jets

The Heat

Libertarianism

Meat

Ben Lerner

NBC

Hari Krishna Music

Judaism

Christainity

Money

Frugality

“Fun”

Fried Food

Video Games

Computer Games

Karaoke

Bocce

Herring

Whiskey

Vodka

Beer

Staying Up Late

Waking Up Early

Polyamory

Scuba Diving

Hegel

Gatorade

When I first read Liana Finck’s pretending list of Things I “Liked” for Men I just cracked up when I got to Hegel. And Hegel…to Gatorade! Brilliant and funny! If you’re looking for a laugh and some snarky social commentary, I highly recommend Liana Finck’s Excuse Me: Cartoons, Complaints, and Notes to Self. GRADE: A-

I tried to make a phone call but the line was dead. No dial tone, no nothing. Diane and I checked our four phones–two on the First Floor, one on the Second Floor, one in the basement–but they were all dead.

Diane used her iPhone to call Verizon Customer Service. We were told there was an “Area Wide Outage” and service would be restored in THREE DAYS!!!

Do you still have a landline? Are you thinking of dropping it?

I’m a fan of Cornell Woolrich’s short stories. But I have some problems with Woolrich’s novels. Waltz Into Darkness, published in 1947, tells the story of a Doomed Man–Louis Durand–who falls in love with his mail-order bride, “Julia Russell.” Durand eventually discovers, the Hard Way, that “Julia” is a liar, thief, and femme fatale. She steals Durand’s money and skips town.

Durand, mad with rage, vows to track “Julia” down and bring her to Justice. But–(mild spoiler) Durand remains in love with his manipulative wife–despite “Julia’s” conniving and cheating. Cornell Woolrich wrote plenty of stories about characters in the grip of Obsession. This may be the ultimate expression of that trope in his oeuvre.

Waltz Into Darkness has been filmed twice. The first movie, renamed Mississippi Mermaid and released in 1968, was directed by Francois Truffaut. Mississippi Mermaid starred Jean-Paul Belmondo as Louis Durand and Catherine Deneuve as “Julia.” In 2001, the book was filmed again with the title Original Sin starring Antonio Banderas and Angelina Jolie.

Are you a Cornell Woolrich fan? GRADE: B

Science Fiction has always been concerned about the future. Over a 100 years ago, SF stories appeared that warned us that our planet was in danger. The most recognized story in this anthology is Alfred Bester’s classic, “Adam and No Eve.”

I also was familiar with Philip K. Dick’s “Survey Team” and Clifford D. Simak’s “Drop Dead” stories before I read Nature’s Warnings. I was surprised by Jack Sharkey’s “A Matter of Protocol,” a story I must have read in GALAXY in 1962 and then completely forgot about. It was great to re-read it. Richard McKenna is an underrated writer, but “Hunter, Come Home” shows why he should be better known. This story about a planet defending itself from humans is both moving and cautionary.

Elisabeth Sanxay Holding is best known for her mysteries, but “Shadow of Wings” shows she could create dread in SF stories, too. Margaret St. Clair’s “The Gardener” displays her talents as a gifted short story writer.

As with all these anthologies in The British Library Science Fiction series, Mike Ashley provides informative introductions and insights for each story. You can’t go wrong with a Mike Ashley anthology! GRADE: B+

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

INTRODUCTION by Mike Ashley

• Survey Team • (1954) • short story by Philip K. Dick
• The Dust of Death • [The Doom of London] • (1903) • short story by Fred M. White
• The Man Who Hated Flies • (1929) • short fiction by J. D. Beresford
• The Man Who Awoke • [The Man Who Awoke • • (1933) • novelette by Laurence Manning
• The Sterile Planet • novelette by Nat Schachner (variant of Sterile Planet (1937) [as by Nathan Schachner]
• Shadow of Wings • (1954) short fiction by Elisabeth Sanxay Holding [as by Elizabeth Sanxay Holding]
• The Gardener • (1949) • short story by Margaret St. Clair
• Drop Dead • (1956) • novelette by Clifford D. Simak
• A Matter of Protocol • [Contact] • (1962) • short story by Jack Sharkey
• Hunter, Come Home • (1963) • novelette by Richard McKenna
• Adam and No Eve • (1941) • short story by Alfred Bester

Last week I posted about Judy Collins sings Leonard Cohen: Democracy (you can read all about it here). I marveled at the quality of the songs and the performances. Deb made a comment–“About 30 years ago, Jennifer Warnes recorded an album of Cohen covers, “Famous Blue Raincoat” (although Cohen’s suggested title, “Jenny Sings Lenny” has a nice ring to it). My favorite song on that album was “First We Take Manhattan”–that motivated me to dig out my copy of Famous Blue Raincoat and listen to it again. Wonderful!

I’m not going to try to pick a winner between the Judy Collins CD and the Jennifer Warnes CD. All I can say is that if you’re in the mood for some great songs sung by two great performers, I highly recommend both CDs! GRADE: A

Track listing:

All songs written by Leonard Cohen except where noted.

1. “First We Take Manhattan” – 3:47
2. “Bird on a Wire” – 4:42
3. “Famous Blue Raincoat” – 5:33
4. “Joan of Arc” – 7:57
5. “Ain’t No Cure for Love” – 3:21
6. “Coming Back to You” – 3:43
7. “Song of Bernadette” – 3:55 (Jennifer Warnes, Bill Elliott, Cohen)
8. “A Singer Must Die” – 4:52
9. “Came So Far for Beauty” – 3:37 (Cohen, John Lissauer)

Additional tracks on 20th anniversary reissue

1. “Night Comes On” [New Recording]
2. “Ballad of the Runaway Horse” [New Recording]
3. “If It Be Your Will” [New Recording]
4. “Joan of Arc” [Live in Antwerp, Belgium, 1992]

I loved Keith Laumer’s Retief stories when they appeared in Analog, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, and other Science Fiction magazines in the 1960s and 1970s. Retief is a clever diplomat for the Corps Diplomatique Terrestrienne who foils the sinister schemes of the slimy-tentacled Groaci aliens.

Keith Laumer’s years in the U.S. diplomatic corps reflects on the actions of these fun stories. Bureaucratic bungling and Groaci treachery can only be undone by Retief’s cunning actions. Each story in this collection ends up being a puzzle that only ingenuity and boldness can solve. If you’re looking for a fun set of stories that still evoke that Sense of Wonder you had in your youth, give Retief: Emissary to the Stars a try. GRADE: A

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

• 1 • The Hoob Melon Crisis • [Retief] • (1975) • novelette by Keith Laumer
• 47 • The Garbage Invasion • [Retief] • (1972) • novelette by Keith Laumer
• 91 • The Troubleshooter • [Retief] • (1975) • novelette by Keith Laumer
• 143 • The Negotiators • [Retief] • (1975) • short story by Keith Laumer
• 175 • Giant Killer • [Retief] • (1965) • short story by Keith Laumer
• 201 • The Forest in the Sky • [Retief] • (1967) • novelette by Keith Laumer (variant of Forest in the Sky)
• 233 • Trick or Treaty • [Retief] • (1965) • novelette by Keith Laumer