Generous Art Scott sent me a copy of The Crackpot and Other Twisted Tales of Greedy Fans and Collectors just published by Ramble House. The book is edited by Dwight R. Decker and includes a Foreward by Richard A. Lupoff. Art Scott was the key catalyst in bringing all the pieces together for this hilarious book to be published. John E. Stockman was a collector and fan who published fanzines very similar to the ones he wrote about in the stories collected in The Crackpot. Stockman wrote about rabid fans who broke into stores to steal comic books and pulp magazines. He wrote about incredible trades between fans. He wrote about crooked dealers. In essence, Stockman’s stories are funhouse mirrors of the world of wacky comic book fans and loony book collectors. Yes, these tales are crudely written but the intensity of collecting mania is apparent on every page. If you’re a book collector, you’ll see a lot of your tendencies in the wild characters Stockman creates. I had a lot of fun reading this book and recommend it to those collectors who might love books and magazines and comics a little too much.

It’s a new season and Bills fans are full of hope. We have a new Head Coach (Rex Ryan), a new QB (Tyrod Taylor), and the same old problem: lack of consistency. It’s been 15 years since the Buffalo Bills have made the playoffs. The new owners of the Bills, the billionaire Pegulas, may change the Bills’ losing ways. We’ll see. Today, Andrew Luck comes to Ralph Wilson Stadium for the first time. The game is a sell-out. The outcome of the game could foreshadow the rest of the Bills season. How will your favorite NFL team fare today?

Every Summer for the past 20 years the North Tonawanda Public Library has held its annual Summer Reading Program. People were encouraged to read books, fill out the Reading Sheet, and then turn it in for raffle tickets for each completed book. There were a number of Gift Baskets available as prizes with a small tub in front of each one. You placed your raffle tickets in the tubs of the Gift Baskets you wanted to win. I put most of my tickets in the MOVIE Gift Basket (a $50 AMC Gift Card, a box of microwave popcorn, and a book about movies was in that one) and the BUFFALO BILLS FAN Gift Basket which included a gift certificate to a local sub shop, bags of munchies (Doritos and potato chips), and a book titled 100 Facts Every Bills Fan Should Know.

I won the BILL FAN Gift Basket! After playing this game for 20 years, this is the first time I’ve won anything!

Over the years, I’ve read more than a dozen Isaac Asimov and Marty Greenberg anthologies. Not only are the stories fun to read, but Asimov and Greenberg always provide interesting introductions to the stories and their authors. In the case of Tales of the Occult this information is provided in a series of “Afterwards” with “Additional Reading” recommendations included. As you glance at the Table of Contents you’ll find plenty of classic writers as well as more contemporary authors. I suspect this anthology was aimed at the school market. No matter. The stories will give you pleasure and you’ll learn a lot about the occult!
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Introdution: The Occult, Isaac Asimov
1. Under the Knife, H. G. Wells
2. Children of the Zodiac, Rudyard Kipling
3. The Girl Who Found Things, Henry Slesar
4. The Emigrant Banshee, Gertrude Henderson
5. Young Goodman Brown, Nathaniel Hawthorne
6. Through a Glass, Darkly, Helen McCloy
7. Dumb Supper, Kris Neville
8. The Tell-Tale Heart, Edgar Allan Poe
9. The House and the Brain, Edward Bulwer-Lytton
10. The Dead Man’s Hand, Manly Wade Wellman
11. The Scythe, Ray Bradbury
12. The Great Keinplatz Experiment, A. Conan Doyle
13. Do You Know Dave Wenzel, Fritz Leiber
14. August Heat, W. F. Harvey
15. Speak to Me of Death, Cornell Woolrich
16. The Woman Who Thought She Could Read, Avram Davidson
17. Tryst in Time, C. L. Moore
18. The Blood Seedling, John Hay
19. The Tracers of Lost Persons & the Seal of Solomon Cypher, Robert W. Chambers
20. Miss Esperson, August Derleth
21. Peeping Tom, Judith Merrill
22. The Moving Finger, Edith Wharton

It’s Home Improvement time for the Kelleys. We had contractors replace our wood front with new vinyl. We also replaced our 28-year-old windows in the front of our house with new high-tech insulated windows. Diane likes the change. What do you think? Any home improvements happening for you?

Back in 1964, I watched these episodes of The Man From U.N.C.L.E.–they were in black & white (remember that?)–featuring the suave Napoleon Solo (Robert Vaughn) and the ironic Illya Kuryakin (David McCallum) who traveled to exotic locales and defended the world from Bad Guys. I also liked Leo G. Carroll (remember Topper) as Alexander Waverly, their boss. My favorite guest stars were William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy, Ricardo Montelban, and Ken Murray. I found this set of 29 episodes for $16.99 at BJ’s Warehouse, certainly a Bargain of the Week! What are your memories of The Man From U.N.C.L.E.?

Last Spring, a team of professors from China visited the Colleges and Universities in Western New York. One of the professors requested to “sit in” on a Marketing class. The Chairman of my department asked me if she could observe my class. “Sure,” I said. Zhen showed up in February and observed my teaching methods until the end of April. She never missed a class. Zhen laughed often at the interaction of my students. Apparently, that doesn’t happen in a Chinese classroom. When Zhen was about to leave to fly back to China, she gave me the gorgeous cross-stitch that Diane and I had framed. What a wonderful gift! And, what a pleasant professor! Her students are very lucky!

Celebrating its 14th year, Wingfest–the national celebration of chicken wings–is featuring 30 chicken wing vendors, offering 120 flavors of chicken digits. Lloyd, the taco truck, will be selling chicken wing tacos. This year local craft beers like Resurgence, Big Ditch, Flying Bison and Community Beer Works will be pouring brews. Tons of chicken wings are consumed at this 2-day event. Hundreds of thousands of voracious chicken wing eaters descend on Buffalo from all over the world. If you’re in the region, be sure to check this out!