Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is one of the most anticipated movies of 2016. Harry Potter fans of all ages look forward to more adventures in Magic and Wizardry. Eddie Redmayne plays Newt Scamander, a protector of Fantastic Beasts. On his visit to 1926 New York City, some of Newt’s Fantastic Beasts escape and much of the movie is taken up with chasing them down and recapturing them. Then, there is a darker sub-plot about an evil wizard who is trying to start a war between the Muggles (humans) and those with Magic powers. I liked Katherine Waterston as Tina, a Magic police woman. And Alison Sudol as Queenie, a mind-reading wizardess. Dan Fogler plays a would-be baker who gets caught up in all the action.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is reportedly the first of five films in this new series. I was not impressed with J. K. Rowling’s screenplay which is chatty and meandering. I hope Rowling lets the folks who did the Harry Potter movies improve on this shaky start. GRADE: C+

I starting reading John Brunner short novels in the early 1960s when it seemed like half of every ACE Double was written by Brunner. Short novels like The 100th Millennium Ace D-362 (1959) (based on “Earth Is But a Star”, revised as Catch a Falling Star Ace G-761 (1968)), Echo in the Skull Ace D-385 (1959) (revised as Give Warning to the World DAW #112 1974), The World Swappers Ace D-391 (1959), Slavers of Space Ace D-421 (1960) (revised as Into the Slave Nebula Lancer (1968)), The Skynappers Ace D-457 (1960), The Atlantic Abomination Ace D-465 (1960), Sanctuary in the Sky Ace D-471 (1960), I Speak for Earth Ace D-497 (1961) (as Keith Woodcott), Meeting at Infinity Ace D-507 (1961), and Secret Agent of Terra Ace F-133 (1962) (revised as The Avengers of Carrig Dell (1969), Book 1 of the “Zarathustra Refugee Planets” series.). You get the idea. Brunner was prolific and everywhere in those years. In addition to all the short novels he sold to ACE Books, he wrote some great short stories, too. I’m a big fan of “The Totally Rich” which anticipates our 1% Society. Joe Haldeman provides an insightful “Introduction.” If you haven’t read any John Brunner, The Best of John Brunner is a great place to start.
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Introduction: The Brunner Mosaic, by Joe Haldeman
“The Totally Rich” (Worlds of Tomorrow, June 1963)
“The Last Lonely Man” (New Worlds SF, #142 May-June 1964)
“Galactic Consumer Report No. 1: Inexpensive Time Machines” (Galaxy Magazine, December 1965)
“Fair” (New Worlds Science Fiction #45, March 1956)
“Such Stuff” (The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, June 1962)
“Galactic Consumer Report No. 2: Automatic Twin-Tube Wishing Machines” (Galaxy Magazine, June 1966)
“Tracking with Close-ups (21) and (23) (excerpt from Stand on Zanzibar)
“X-Hero” (Omni, March 1980)
“No Future in It” (Science Fantasy, September 1955)
“Galactic Consumer Report No. 3: A Survey of the Membership” (Galaxy Magazine, December 1967)
“What Friends Are For” (Fellowship of the Stars, 1974)
“The Taste of the Dish and the Savor of the Day” (The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, August 1977)
“Galactic Consumer Report No. 4: Thing-of-the-Month Clubs” (Galaxy, January 1969)
“The Man Who Saw the Thousand-Year Reich” (The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, November 1981)
“An Elixir for the Emperor” (Fantastic Stories of Imagination, November 1964)
“The Suicide of Man” (Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, July-August 1978)
“The Vitanuls” (The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, July 1967)

I’ve read George Bernard Shaw’s Mrs. Warren’s Profession but never saw a production of it until the play was put on this season as part of the Shaw Festival. Mrs. Warren runs a number of elite brothels in various countries. She is very wealthy. But her daughter, Vivie, has been raised outside “The Life” and attended Cambridge. She wants to become an accountant. When Vivie learns the truth about her mother’s profession and the source of the wealth that gave her a first-class education, she rebels. Shaw makes his points about the opportunities of women in Victorian England. Much of Shaw’s arguments are still valid today. I thought the second act of Mrs. Warren’s Profession dragged a bit as the same arguments Shaw made in Act One get rehashed in Act Two. While Mrs. Warren’s Profession isn’t my favorite Shaw play, it accurately depicts the state of women in 1908. GRADE: B

My two favorite essays in Soul at the White Heat are “‘The King of the Weird’: H. P. Lovecraft” and “Simenons.” Joyce Carol Oates has edited a collection of Lovecraft stories, Tales of H. P. Lovecraft (Harper, 2007). Oates’s insights into Lovecraft’s work reveal her analysis of his method and then Oates contrasts Lovecraft with Poe in detail. In “Simenons,” Oates again shows she’s done her homework. She mentions a number of Georges Simenon’s works, but focuses on a few titles–like Three Bedrooms in Manhattan and Monsieur Monde Vantishes–for in-depth review. However, Oates can’t help mentioning that urban legend that Simenon had sex with 10,000 women. The other essays in this collection are fun to read. Oates always has something startling to say about the creative process. If you’re looking for a volume of intelligent essays, I recommend Soul at the White Heat. I’ve reviewed another of Joyce Carol Oates books on this blog here. GRADE: B+
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
I. The writing life
Is the uninspired life worth living?
This I believe : five motives for writing
Anatomy of a story
The writing room
II. Classics
My life in Middlemarch Rebecca Mead
Charles Dickens : a life : Claire Tomalin
“The King of Weird” : H.P. Lovecraft
My faraway one : selected letters of Georgia O’Keefe and Alfred Stieglitz
Simenons
Two American prose masters : Ellison, Updike
A visit with Doris Lessing (1973)
III. Contemporaries
The childhood of Jesus : J.M. Coetzee
The detective as visionary : Derek Raymond
“Catastrophe in art” : Julian Barnes
“When the legend becomes fact” : Larry McMurtry
Paper losses : Lorrie Moore
Emotion of man and animals : Karen Joy Fowler
Wiindigoo justice : Louise Erdrich
In other worlds : Margaret Atwood
The storyteller of the “shattered personality” : Patrick McGrath
Why be happy when you could be normal? : Jeanette Winterson
Diminished things : Anne Tyler
Smiling woman : Margaret Drabble
The inventions of Jerome Charyn
“After Auschwitz” : Martin Amis
London NW : Zadie Smith
Joan Didion : risk and triumph
Unflinching about women : the short stories of Lucia Berlin
Edna O’Brien : The little red chairs
“Disputed truth” : Mike Tyson
The fighter : a film by David O. Russell
The mystery of Muhammad Ali
IV. Real life
A visit to San Quentin (2011).

I’ve always loved Gershwin music and there’s plenty of that in this touring production of American in Paris based on the Broadway hit. The plot is simple: three men fall in love with the same French girl. The French girl harbors some secrets that the men chasing her don’t know about. There’s plenty of dancing and music in this production. I particularly liked the projections of the scenery. Very cool. The cast was enthusiastic and very athletic with all the leaps and spins and ballet. Most of you are familiar with the movie version. This musical production concentrates more on the famous songs and the dancing. If American in Paris shows up in your neighborhood, I recommend you check it out. GRADE: A

SONG LIST:
Act I
“Concerto in F” – Company
“I Got Rhythm” – Henri, Adam, Jerry, Company
“Second Prelude” – Lise, Female Ensemble
“I’ve Got Beginner’s Luck” – Jerry
“The Man I Love” – Lise
“Liza” – Jerry
“‘S Wonderful” – Adam, Henri, Jerry, Company
“Shall We Dance?” – Milo
“Second Rhapsody”/”Cuban Overture” – Company
Act II
“Entr’acte” – Orchestra
“Fidgety Feet” – Jerry, Company
“Who Cares?” – Milo, Adam, Henri
“For You, For Me, For Evermore” – Lise, Henri, Jerry, Milo
“But Not for Me” – Adam, Milo
“I’ll Build a Stairway to Paradise” – Henri, Adam, Company
“An American in Paris” – Company
“They Can’t Take That Away from Me” – Adam, Jerry, Henri

In our constant quest to stimulate the American Economy, Diane and I purchased a new Nissan Altima SV. This is our 9th Nissan in a row. We have two reasons why we buy Nissans. The first is that Diane’s cousin is part-owner of our local Nissan dealership. That means that when we go in to buy a new car or SUV, we get a rock-bottom price and none of the negotiating shenanigans that happen in most auto purchases.

The second reason is this Nissan dealership has a first-rate Service Department. We have never had a major problem with any of our Nissans. We take our vehicles in for scheduled service and they run great! To me, reliability and safety are paramount factors in choosing a vehicle. Both Patrick and Katie have totaled Nissans (our beloved Maximas!) but in both instances, Patrick and Katie walked away from the accident unhurt. That means a lot.

Do you have any plans to buy a new vehicle?

The disappointing 4-5 Buffalo Bills enjoy a much needed Bye Week to help heal all of their injured players. To make the NFL Playoffs, the Bills would need to go 6-1 in the remaining seven games. Not likely. How is your favorite NFL team going to do today? [Photo provided by WikiLeaks]

Arrival is based on the short story “Story of Your Life” by Ted Chiang. The film stars Amy Adams as linguist Louise Banks. Jeremy Renner plays a physicist. When 12 alien space ships show up, the world is thrown into a panic. Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner are recruited by the U.S. Army to be part of a First Contact team. The key to dealing with the aliens–dubbed Abbott and Costello by Renner–is to learn their language. While Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner work to crack the alien’s language, the rest of the world predictably stops cooperating with each other and gets ready to attack the space ships (although the aliens have done nothing hostile). Arrival isn’t Independence Day. It’s more like Close Encounters of the Third Kind. If you’re looking for an intelligent Science Fiction movie, then Arrival fits the bill. GRADE: B+

Ramble House just published The Sword of Thongor so the cover artwork isn’t available online yet. In its place, I’m providing one of my favorite Thongor covers instead. Thongor was created by Lin Carter as a Conan clone. If you’re a fan of Robert E. Howard’s barbarian, then you’ll feel right at home with the Thongor series. Like Conan, Thongor travels around getting in trouble. Plenty of sword fights and action propel the books. No doubt Robert E. Howard was the more talented writer, but Lin Carter manages to capture some of the Conan magic in his Thongor series. Robert M. Price is the executor of Lin Carter’s estate. He’s a fan of the Thongor series and decided to write a sequel. Richard A. Lupoff provides an informative Introduction. If you’re a fan of Sword & Sorcery novels, The Sword of Thongor will entertain you. GRADE: B
THONGOR OF VALKARTH SERIES
1. Young Thongor, by Lin Carter, Robert M. Price, and Adrian Cole (Wildside Press, 2012) (ISBN 978-1-4344-4101-0)
2. The Wizard of Lemuria (1965; revised/expanded as Thongor and The Wizard of Lemuria (1969)). In his introduction to the revised edition, “A Word from the Author”, Carter reveals that the revisions consist of restoring certain passages cut by the editor from the first edition, conforming certain portions of the book to details described in later books of the series, and adding a few thousand words of new material.
3. Thongor of Lemuria (1966; revised/expanded as Thongor and the Dragon City (1970))
4. Thongor Against the Gods (1967)
5. Thongor in the City of Magicians (1968)
6. Thongor at the End of Time (1968)
7. Thongor Fights the Pirates of Tarakus (1970)

If you ever wanted to know the background of some of the greatest hits, Marc Meyers has written the perfect book to find out the facts. Anatomy of a Song is a browser’s delight. Elvis had a Number One hit, “Good Luck Charm,” in 1962. When Elvis went into the recording studio in Memphis in 1969 it had been seven years since he had a Number One song. Elvis ended his drought when he recorded “Suspicious Minds.” It’s one of my favorite Elvis songs and it zoomed to the top of the charts. Marc Meyers provides information about the songwriter and the producer of each of the songs along with historical information. If you love Rock, R&B, and Pop music then you’ll find Anatomy of a Song fascinating! GRADE: A
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
1. Lawdy Miss Clawdy By Lloyd Price
2. K. C. Loving By Little Willie Littlefield
3. Shout By The Isley Brothers
4. Please Mr. Postman By The Marvelettes
5. Runaround Sue By Dion DiMucci
6. Chapel of Love By The Dixie Cups
7. You Really Got Me By The Kinks
8. You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling By The Righteous Brothers
9. My Girl By The Temptations
10. Reach Out I’ll Be There By The Four Tops
11. Darling Be Home Soon By John Sebastian
12. Light My Fire By The Doors
13. Groovin’ By The Young Rascals
14. White Rabbit By The Jefferson Airplane
15. Different Drum By The Stone Poneys
16. (Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay By Otis Redding
17. Fist City By Loretta Lynn
18. Street Fighting Man By The Rolling Stones
19. Stand By Your Man By Tammy Wynette
20. Magic Carpet Ride By Steppenwolf
21. Proud Mary By Creedence Clearwater Revival
22. Oh Happy Day By The Edwin Hawkins Singers
23. Suspicious Minds By Elvis Presley
24. Whole Lotta Love By Led Zeppelin
25. Mercedes Benz By Janis Joplin
26. Moonlight Mile By The Rolling Stones
27. Maggie May By Rod Stewart
28. Carey By Joni Mitchell
29. Respect Yourself By The Staple Singers
30. The Harder They Come By Jimmy Cliff
31. Midnight Train to Georgia By Gladys Knight & The Pips
32. Ramblin’ Man By The Allman Brothers
33. Rock the Boat By The Hues Corporation
34. Walk This Way By Aerosmith
35. Love’s in Need of Love Today By Stevie Wonder
36. Deacon Blues By Steely Dan
37. (The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes By Elvis Costello
38. Heart of Glass By Blondie
39. Another Brink in the Wall By Pink Floyd
40. London Calling By The Clash
41. Brother John/Iko Iko By The Neville Brothers
42. Big City By Merle Haggard
43. Time After Time By Cyndi Lauper
44. Nick of Time By Bonnie Raitt
45. Losing My Religion By R.E.M.