If you watch Kathryn Bigelow’s new movie, A House of Dynamite, which is in theaters and will be on available on Netflix October 24, be prepared to lose some sleep.

If you’ve seen The Day After or The Sum of All Fears, you’ll be familiar with the premise of A House of Dynamite. A military tracking station identifies a single missile with a nuclear warhead, origin unknown, heading toward the U.S. mainland. If the missile is not shot down, it will hit in 20 minutes. So basically, this movie focuses on the 19 minutes left before impact.

The movie lurches between the threat of the missile and the characters who are trying to stop that missile from hitting the U.S. and another set of characters trying to figure out who launched the missile and how to retaliate.

The cliches of “edge of my seat” and “white-knuckle suspense” are extremely applicable to A House of Dynamite as Bigelow amps up the stress frame by frame. No spoilers, but be prepared to be freaked out! GRADE: B (for bombshell)

Michael Moorcock and Joe R. Lansdale are two of my favorite writers. And here they are together, in a Planet Stories Press (aka, Paizo Press) “Double Feature” that came out in 2010. Planet Stories Press published about 32 titles between 2007 and 2012, mostly reprints of Robert E. Howard, Henry Kuttner, Leigh Brackett, and C. L. Moore. So this volume is a rarity: two original stories.

Sojan the Swordsman is an amalgam of short stories Michael Moorcock wrote as a teenager starting in 1954. Most of the stories were published in Tarzan Adventures in the 1950s and this is the first U.S. publication that collects all the stories.

Both Moorcock and Lansdale admit Edgar Rice Burroughs profoundly influenced them when they read ERB as kids. Clearly, it’s doubtful that either one of these guys would have been writers without the impact of reading Burroughs in their youth.

“Borrowing” from ERB, Moorcock’s Sojan the Swordsman (aka, Sojan Shieldbearer), is an aspect of the Eternal Champion. Sojan fights with a sword and a pneumatic gun similar in function to the Needle Gun used by Jerry Cornelius. Sojan, once Sir John de Courey until he was killed in combat on Earth and resurrected on Zylor, encounters a world of wonders…and dangers. With a new name, a new identity, and no memory of his past, Sojan contends with the Devil Hunters of Norj and the Hounds of the Cergii.

Joe R. Lansdale’s Under the Warrior Star also features a character who is transported from Earth to an alien planet. A troubled loner, Braxton Booker, gets involved in a secret Government project that sends Brax to another planet called Juna. And, sure enough, there are giants to fight, deadly Mantis creatures to battle, and a beautiful girl to fall in love with.

If you’re a fan of Sword and Planet stories, Sojan the Swordsman and Under the Warrior Star are worth seeking out. GRADE: B

Last week I posted about Dick Clark’s All Time Hits, Volume 1 & 2 (you can read about them here). While Dick Clark’s All Time Hits, Volume 1 & 2 featured songs from the late 1950s and early 1960s, the tunes on Dick Clark’s All Time Hits, Volume 3 & 4 are songs from the later 1960s and early 1970s.

Dick Clark’s All Time Hits, Volume 1 includes classics like Rare Earth’s “Get Ready” and Iron Butterfly’s “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida.” I’ve always enjoyed The Spencer Davis Group’s “Gimme Some Lovin'” and Procol Harem’s “A Whiter Shade of Pale.”

Dick Clark’s All Time Hits, Volume 2 also presents some standards like The Lovin’ Spoonful’s “Summer in the City” and The Isley Brothers “Twist and Shout.” I’m a fan of Al Stewart’s “Year of the Cat” and “Nights in White Satin” by The Moody Blues. Do you remember these songs? Any favorites here? GRADE: B (for both)

TRACK LIST:

I finally got around to reading this Martin Edwards’ anthology from 2016. In his Introduction, Edwards makes the case that the Golden Age of Murder featured crime in the manor house rather than the alley’s of London. I’ve read over a dozen anthologies edited by Martin Edwards and Serpents in Eden continues his successful pattern of mixing well-known mystery writers with those not-so-well known. And, even when Edwards includes well-known writers like Arthur Conan Doyle and G. K. Chesterton, he chose a non-Sherlock Holmes story by Doyle and a non-Father Brown story by Chesterton.

My favorite story in Serpents in Eden is R. Austin Freeman’s “The Naturalist at Law,” a Dr. John Thorndyke mystery. A body is found with feet sticking out of the water. Who is the victim? Why was he murdered? Who had a motive to kill him? Thorndyke approached the case with logic and cleverness.

The most unusual story in Serpents in Eden is “Inquest” by Lenora Wodehouse. Yes, Lenora Wodehouse is the step-daughter of P. G. Wodehouse. The story was originally published under the pseudonym of “Loel Yeo.” This is the first time “Inquest” has been published under the author’s true name.

If you’re interested in classic Golden Age mystery stories, Serpents in Eden will deliver hours of entertainment for you. GRADE: B+

Table of Contents:

Introduction, vii,
The Black Doctor Arthur Conan Doyle, 1,
Murder By Proxy M. McDonnell Bodkin, 24,
The Fad of the Fisherman G.K. Chesterton, 50,
The Genuine Tabard E.C. Bentley, 73,
The Gylston Slander Herbert Jenkins, 93,
The Long Barrow H.C. Bailey, 119,
The Naturalist at Law R. Austin Freeman, 146
A Proper Mystery Margery Allingham, 181,
Direct Evidence Anthony Berkeley, 190,
Inquest Leonora Wodehouse, 213,
The Scarecrow Ethel Lina White, 234,
Clue in the Mustard Leo Bruce, 252,
Our Pageant Gladys Mitchell, 260,

If you’ve read all 75 novels and 28 short stories Georges Simenon wrote about Maigret (like Jeff Meyerson has) you’ll be surprised to see chubby, pipe-smoking, avuncular Jules Maigret transformed into a youngster in this new PBS series.

Benjamin Wainwright stars as Jules Maigret, who heads the elite police unit known as La Crim, responsible for investigating all serious crime in and around Paris. Stefanie Martini stars as Madame Louise Maigret. Blake Harrison, Reda Elazouar, Kerrie Hayes, Shaniqua Okwok, and Rob Kazinsky make up the “Les Maigrets,” Maigret’s loyal team of detectives, with Nathalie Armin as Prosecutor Mathilde Kernavel.

Maigret, Season One has six episodes and I’ve only watched the first one that dropped over the weekend. GRADE: Incomplete, but trending towards a B

If you’re looking for some good things to eat, you might want to check out Samin Nosrat’s wonderful new cookbook, Good Things. Good Things presents 125 recipes for dishes Samin Nosrat loves to cook, including ricotta custard pancakes–absolutely delicious!–roast chicken, Calabrian chili crisp, sky-high focaccia, and yummy yellow cake with chocolate frosting.

“Samin Nosrat is a professional cook, teacher, and bestselling author. Her career as a chef began at landmark farm-to-table restaurant Chez Panisse in California, where she started out as a busser and ended up working in the kitchen as a cook.”

I’m a fan of Samin’s 2017 cookbook Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat.  Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat was named a Sunday Times Book of the Year and won the Fortnum & Mason Best Debut Food Book award. If you want to understand how the components of food work together to produce great tastes, this is the book for you!

In 2018, Samin Nosrat wrote and hosted the critically acclaimed original Netflix documentary based on Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat. The four-part series, where each episode explores how the core components of fat, salt, acid and heat are utilized, found an enthusiastic audience (including me!) and revealed some of the traditional secrets of making great food. What are your favorite Good Things? GRADE: A

The Buffalo Bills and Highmark Stadium will have a new look tonight when the New England Patriots show up for an AFC Conference battle. The Bills will be wearing their new “PATS WEEK” white jerseys–another NFL marketing scheme to sell more merchandise–and the crowd has been encouraged wear white. So, even though it’s predicted to be 80 degrees tomorrow–unusual for Western NY in October–it will look like blizzard conditions on your TV screen.

The 4-0 Buffalo Bills are 7 1/2 point favorites over the 2-2 Patriots. I’m expecting a tough game. How will your favorite NFL team do today?

Play Dirty is based on “The novels of Richard Stark” who we all know was really Donald E. Westlake. But, you have to accept Mark Wahlberg as Parker–a professional thief–and Lakeith Stanfield as an African-American Alan Grofield.

The movie starts with a wild chase scene after a botched heist and then moves on to the major heist of this movie: the planned theft of millions of dollars of gold and jewelry recovered from a sunken Spanish Galleon. Plenty of shooting, explosions, and pyrotechnics. But Director Shane Black never captures the Parker vibe. GRADE: C

I bought Alastair Reynolds’ House of Suns when it was first published in 2008, but somehow lost track of it on my many bookshelves. Last week I discovered it and immediately sat down and read it. Alastair Reynolds specializes in space opera Science Fiction with Big Ideas and Big Themes.

Imagine 1000 clones who have managed to live millions of years. Then imagine an incredible atrocity is inflicted on them. Campion and Purslane–two of the surviving shatterlings of an ancient House–attempt to find out who committed this crime and why. During their pursuit, they encounter one of the mysterious Machine People, Hesperus, who has lost part of his memory.

Reynolds also mixes in The Vigilance, a group who attempts to organize all the information in the galaxy. House of Suns tells of civilizations that have risen and fallen over the millions of years the clones have travelled the galaxy. As Campion and Purslane find out, the galaxy is a dangerous place full of treachery and deception. If you’re in the mood for a compelling tale of incredible crime and punishment, The House of Suns, will take you on a journey you will never forget. GRADE: A

Just through serendipity I stumbled upon a four volume set of Dick Clark’s All Time Hits. The first two volumes include hits from the 1950s to the early 1960s. I haven’t heard some of these songs for decades!

I was a fan of Ritchie Valens–who died in a plane crash in 1959–but “Donna” seldom gets played on Western New York Oldies radio stations. I do like “Lollipop” by The Chordettes and Bobby Day’s “Rocking’ Robin.” When is the last time you head “The Stroll” by The Diamonds? I haven’t heard it in at least 40 years!

Volume 2 includes Freddy Cannon–“who always shoots his mouth off” according to one DJ–singing “Palisades Park.” And my favorite Dion song, “Teenager in Love.” I’ve always like Terry Stafford’s “Suspicion” which sounds a lot like Elvis.

Do you remember this hits that Dick Clark believes all “All Time” songs? Any favorites here? GRADE: B (for both)

TRACK LIST:

TRACK LIST: