C.S.E. Cooney creates a confluence of three worlds: a world like ours, a world of magical beings, and a world of goblins. Walls separate the three worlds, but certain locations allow movement between the worlds at certain times…like midnight.

Dark Breakers, just published by Mythic Delirium Books, features five linked stories. “The Breaker Queen” introduces struggling painter Elliot Howell who accidentally meets Nyx the Nightwalker, a gentry queen who occasionally visits  Athe disguised by charms after she crosses the Veil Between Worlds. Howell, who can sometimes see the other worlds, finds himself drawn to Nyx. Nyx faces deadly forces in her world who want to topple her from her throne and seize her Antler Crown for themselves.

My favorite story in Dark Breakers is “The Two Paupers” where the unusual relationship between haunted sculptor Gideon Alderwood and writer Analise Field hits a crisis when Analise rescues one of Gideon’s sculptures after she witnesses it coming alive. Gideon frantically created statues and then, when finished, would destroy them. The secrets revealed upend the three worlds.

“Salissay’s Laundries”, is a short story told as a journalistic expose written by reporter Salissay Dimaguiba who exposes the horrific conditions she encounters when she goes undercover as a pregnant woman desperate for work at the laundry.

I enjoyed Sharon Shinn’s Introduction to Dark Breakers and her insights into C.S.E. Cooney’s work. I also found Cooney’s “Story Notes” fascinating with her descriptions of how these stories came about. If you’re looking for fantasy stories with intriguing characters and strange worlds, I recommend Dark Breakers. I’ve ordered Cooney’s upcoming novel, Saint Death’s Daughter, and plan to read her Tor.com novella, Desdemona and the Deep (2019). GRADE: B+

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

• Introduction by Sharon Shinn –13
• The Breaker Queen –16
• The Two Paupers — 106
• Salissay’s Laundries — 202
• Longergreen — 256
• Susurra to the Moon — 276
• Story Notes –284

At a 1942 pre-Broadway performance of Oklahoma! in New Haven, Broadway producer Mike Todd walked out at the Intermission and famously quipped: “No girls. No gags, No chance.” Yes, Oklahoma! does not feature the chorus line of dancing girls most musicals of that time had in abundance. It has some humor, but much of it is dark. Needless to say, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! went on to win a Pulitzer Prize and changed the history of musical theater.

Diane and I donned our N95 masks and went to see this “new” version of Oklahoma! at the Shea’s Performing Arts Center. Director Daniel Fish “reimagines” Oklahoma! with a racially diverse cast, a stripped down bluegrass band instead of an orchestra, and a focus on brooding farmhand, Jud Fry, who is obsessed with his employer, farm girl Laurey.

After we watched this musical version of Oklahoma! on the stage, Diane and I decided to go back and watch the 1955 movie version with Shirley Jones (her first major role) as Lauren and Gordon MacRae as Curly, the cowboy who loves her. Rod Steiger plays the obsessed farmhand, Jud Fry. Disney+ offered Oklahoma! in brilliant color and excellent sound. The movie version contains the dark elements that the “reimagined” play version accentuates, but the focus is on the young couples and romance instead of the obsessive, creepy Jud Fry. Diane and I both prefer the movie version. Do you like Oklahoma!?

MUSICAL GRADE: C–

MOVIE VERSION: B+

Musical numbers:

• “Overture” – Orchestra (played before the film actually begins)
• “Main Title” – Orchestra (played over the opening credits)
• “Oh What a Beautiful Mornin’” – Curly
• “Laurey’s Entrance” – Laurey (“Oh What a Beautiful Mornin’“)
• “The Surrey With the Fringe On Top” – Curly
• “The Surrey With the Fringe On Top (Reprise)” – Curly
• “Kansas City” – Will, Aunt Eller, Male Ensemble
• “I Cain’t Say No” – Ado Annie
• “I Cain’t Say No” (reprise) – Will and Ado Annie
• “Entrance of Ensemble” (“Oh What a Beautiful Mornin’“) – Curly, Gertie, and Ensemble
• “Many a New Day” – Laurey and Female Ensemble
• “People Will Say We’re In Love” – Curly and Laurey
• “Pore Jud Is Daid” – Curly and Jud
• “Out of My Dreams” – Laurey and Female Ensemble
• “Dream Ballet” – Ensemble
• “Entr’acte” – Orchestra
• “The Farmer and the Cowman” – Carnes, Aunt Eller, Ike Skidmore, Ensemble
• “All Er Nuthin’” – Will and Ado Annie
• “People Will Say We’re In Love (Reprise)” – Curly and Laurey
• “Oklahoma” – Curly and Ensemble
• “Finale Ultimo” (“Oh What a Beautiful Mornin'”) – Ensemble
• “Exit Music” – Orchestra

Who is your favorite President?

I’m a big fan of Alastair Reynolds who writes Science Fiction Space Opera novels. Inhibitor Phase begins with a small band of humans hiding out in the caverns of a desolate planet, Michaelmas. A deadly alien cybernetic force (aka, wolves) is determined to destroy all human life in the Universe (think Fred Saberhagen’s Berserkers but way more menacing!).

The leader of the Michaelmas colony, Miguel de Ruyter, embarks on a suicide mission to silence a space ship that blunders into their system and threatens to attract the wolves. But when de Ruyter recovers an enigmatic woman who calls herself Glass, he finds himself on a quest to find a weapon that might defeat the wolves.

Inhibitor Phase is the fourth book in The Inhibitor Sequence. I enjoyed the early books, but you can read Inhibitor Phase as a stand-a-lone. If you’re looking for top-flight Space Opera with the future of Humanity in the balance, you’ll find Inhibitor Phase riveting! GRADE: A

Have you ever read some positive reviews of a book and then after you read the book, you came away with less than positive feelings about the book? This happened to me two books in a row.

I tend to enjoy mysteries about books and libraries so I was predisposed to like Eva Jurczyk’s first novel, The Department of Rare Books and Special Collections. Book Page, the magazine hyping new books that our Library gives away free, gave Eva Jurczyk’s book a positive review so I ordered it.

Jurczyk’s librarian, Liesl Weiss, is called upon to fill in after her boss, the Acquisitions Librarian of a large (unnamed) university, suffers a stroke. Liesl, content to work as an assistant to an internationally renown Rare Books expert, finds herself thrust into a mystery: the Library’s most prized (and expensive!) manuscript is missing!

You would think this situation would make for a riveting mystery…but you would be wrong. I figured out who stole the manuscript within a few pages and then had to slog through 300 more pages to find out I was right. Jurczyk, who is a librarian, gets the operation of an academic Library right, but she needs to work on her Setting Up a Mystery skills. GRADE: C

Tade Thompson’s Far From the Light of Heaven is a Science Fiction mystery. I like the mashup of SF and Mystery…when it works. Thompson creates a situation where a colony starship named Ragtime with 1000 sleeping people on it reaches the Lago system. When Michelle Campion, the First Mate, wakes from her sleep, she finds 31 dead colonists on her ship…and her AI Captain uncooperative–and possibly hostile.

You might think that was a pretty powerful setup for a SF mystery (a bit of Christie’s And Then There Were None)…but once again you (like me) would be wrong. Campion sends out a distress signal and the planet Ragtime is orbiting, Bloodroot, sends up an investigator, Rasheed Fin and an android named Salvo. Fin and Salvo start by sorting out the body parts of the 31 dead colonists who have been butchered.

Fin and Salvo discover some of the body parts are missing. But Far From the Light of Heaven then veers into politics and corporate matters. You would think the suspense of a group of people fighting for their lives as their starship dies would be enough. But no. There are too many complications, too many flashbacks, too many random characters. And, no surprises. GRADE: C

Avram Davidson ends his editing of The Best From Fantasy and Science Fiction series with this 14th volume. One of the most famous stories in this volume is J. G. Ballard’s haunting “The Illuminated Man” where the crystalizing of the world spells disaster (the Brits write the best End of the World SF!). Roger Zelazny’s “A Rose for Ecclesiastes” sends a poet to Mars to translate the story of the dying race and reveals a centuries old secret.

I also enjoyed Ron Goulart’s snarky “Into the Shop” where technology reveals its Dark Side. This 14th volume is another solid anthology in this successful series. GRADE: B+

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

• 3 •  Time and Again (title page) • (1963) • interior artwork by Jack Gaughan
• 6 • Introduction (The Best from Fantasy and Science Fiction: 14th Series) • (1965) • essay by Avram Davidson
• 8 • Sacheverell • (1964) • short story by Avram Davidson
• 15 • Trade-In • (1964) • short story by Jack Sharkey
• 30 • The Illuminated Man • (1964) • novelette by J. G. Ballard
• 62 • A Bulletin from the Trustees of the Institute for Advanced Research at Marmouth, Mass. • (1964) • short story by Wilma Shore
• 71 • Automatic Tiger • (1964) • short story by Kit Reed
• 86 • The Court of Tartary • (1963) • short story by T. P. Caravan
• 94 • Touchstone • (1964) • short story by Terry Carr
• 108 • Thaw and Serve • (1964) • short story by Allen Kim Lang
• 118 • Nada • (1964) • short story by Thomas M. Disch
• 140 • Into the Shop • (1964) • short story by Ron Goulart
• 151 • A Rose for Ecclesiastes • (1963) • novelette by Roger Zelazny
• 190 • Olsen and the Gull • (1964) • short story by Eric St. Clair
• 197 • Dark Conception • (1964) • short story by Joe L. Hensley and Alexei Panshin [as by Louis J. A. Adams]
• 206 • The Compleat Consummators • (1964) • short story by Alan E. Nourse (variant of The Compleat Consumators)
• 211 • The House by the Crab Apple Tree • (1964) • novelette by S. S. Johnson
• 238 • The Girl with the Hundred Proof Eyes • (1964) • short story by Sharon Webb (variant of The Girl with the 100 Proof Eyes) [as by Ron Webb]
• 244 • Fred One • (1964) • short story by James Ransom

I bought Neil Young’s Harvest in 1972 even though Young was far from my favorite singer. As Young himself said about his voice, “It’s an acquired taste.”

This is the 50th Anniversary of the release of Harvest. Harvest went on to become the best selling album of the year. “Heart of Gold” went to Number One on the Billboard chart–Neil Young’s only Number One song.

Harvest is only 37 minutes long. Short even for albums from the early Seventies. Yet, in all the Neil Young discography, Harvest stands out for capturing the Zeitgeist of the time. Are you a Neil Young fan. What do you think of Harvest? GRADE: A

TRACK LIST:

All tracks are written by Neil Young. Track timings are from the original 1972 vinyl release, catalogue number MS 2032.

A. S. Byatt wrote one of my favorite novels: Possession. Possession went on to win the 1990 Booker Prize. It’s the story of a pair of academics trying to solve a literary mystery.

Byatt’s Medusa’s Ankles: Selected Stories presents a cross-section of her work. From realistic stories like “Raw Material”–a story about a creative writing teacher who actually finds a student whose writing is genuinely creative–to “A Stone Woman” where a woman is literally turning to stone, these tales tantalize and surprise.

The two stories I enjoyed the most would probably fall into the category of Fantasy. “The Djinn in the Nightingale’s Eye” is the longest story in Medusa’s Ankles; it’s almost 100 pages. The story involves a professor of narratology, Gillian Perholdt, who attends an academic conference in Turkey after her husband leaves her and says good-bye through a fax. Gillian Perholt buys a beautiful bottle and guess what? Yes, a djinn (aka, genie) appears and grants her three wishes. Plenty of humor and pathos follow. “The Djinn in the Nightingale’s Eye” is a master class in story telling and narratology.

My second favorite story is “Cold.” In a kingdom long ago, the Queen–after giving birth to 12 boys–finally gives birth to a girl. The girl is “fragile” and wan. But, her tutor starts to formulate a theory of her health. When he spies the Princess dancing in the snow, he realizes her true nature. But, when the Princess marries, she’s confronted by the consequences of her true nature.

A. S. Byatt is a marvelous writer. Her stories, whether realistic or fantastic, will sweep you away! GRADE: A

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

INTRODUCTION By David Mitchell — vii

The July ghost — 3

Sugar — 21

Precipice-encurled — 55

Racine and the tablecloth — 85

Medusa’s ankles — 117

The Chinese lobster — 131

Dragons’ breath — 155

The Djinn in the nightingale’s eye — 165

A Lamia in the Cévennes — 263

Christ in the house of Martha and Mary — 281

Cold — 289

Heavenly bodies — 325

Raw material — 335

A stone woman — 359

The narrow jet — 391

Dolls’ eyes — 415

The lucid dreamer — 429

Sea story — 437

Encanto is a Disney animated mystery. Featuring the voices of Stephanie Beatriz, María Cecilia Botero, John Leguizamo, Mauro Castillo, Jessica Darrow, Angie Cepeda, Carolina Gaitán, Diane Guerrero, and Wilmer Valderrama, the film follows a multigenerational Colombian family, the Madrigals, led by a matriarch whose children and grandchildren—except for Mirabel Madrigal (Beatriz)—receive magical gifts from a “miracle” candle that helps them serve the people in their rural community called “the Encanto”.

When Mirabel learns that the family is losing their magic, she sets out to find out what is happening, and save her family and their magical house. Mirabel follows the clues that lead to the Past and a missing family member, Bruno, whose Gift was that he could see the Future.

Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote the music for Encanto. I liked the plot and the silly characters. Mirabel–pitied because she has no “Gift”–shows she has investigative powers and leadership skills. Encanto, like many Disney movies, is inspiring. GRADE: B