This is the best cover of Daniel Boyd’s books! And, Hamlet Among the Pirates may be the funniest of Boyd’s books! As most of you know, Daniel Boyd (aka, Dan Stumpf) is a Hamlet scholar so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that a novel about Hamlet–and, of course, pirates–would finally appear.

Snarky Captain Jacobs Hooke, Master of the Dread Pirate Frigate DEBACLE, hopes to ransom the Melancholy Dane Prince, but circumstances intervene.

Here’s a heart-to-heart chat between Captain Hooke and Hamlet:

Hamlet announces: “I am to requite mine enemies, take the throne that is my birthright, reward loyal friends, and thence face myself unto Ophelia and e’en her brother Laertres, taking their just hatred and merciful love in equal measure, to such end as God will.”

Captain Hooke responds: “You mean to have it out with King Claudius and his armed guards, palace spies, a distraught woman and her umbrage brother, and no telling what all else? By yourself?”

“It is my duty and perforce my fate.”

“Perforce your kick in the arse,” I counseled gently, “You’ll get yourself quickly deceased with a plan like that.” (p. 121)

If your fictional tastes run to swordfights, sea battles, a ship full of strumpets, wacky literary allusions, and wild adventures, Hamlet Among the Pirates delivers that fun, frivolity, and foolery! GRADE: B+

If you’re in the mood for an eye-popping visual experience, check out The Art and Soul of Dune. I first read Frank Herbert’s Dune in 1965 and was completely blown away. Herbert created a planet of sand with the unique spice that allowed for interstellar travel. He also created competing Houses who lusted after power and wealth. Plenty of treachery in this book!

In his “Foreword,” director Denis Villeneuve reveals how his 2-part movie Dune got made and how many of his decisions affected his final vision. In their “Introduction,” Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson explain how their prequels and sequels explain details of Frank Herbert’s worlds.

The artwork is spectacular and there are plenty of inside information on the Dune movies. If you’re a fan of Dune, you need to check out this Dune eye-candy! GRADE: A

It’s hard to believe that Vegas would make the Buffalo Bills 1½ point favorites over the speedy Miami Dolphins after the Bills almost lost their Home Opener to the Arizona Cardinals, 34-28. Of course, the Dolphins had to come from behind to beat the Jacksonville Jaguars, 20-17.

The Dolphins might be distracted by their local Police putting Tyreek Hill in handcuffs for a speeding violation. The Bills are banged up: QB Josh Allen has a bone bruise on his left hand. Fortunately he throws with his right hand. I’m not a fan of these Thursday Night games, but hopefully the Bills can play with some energy.

I was a loyal reader of GALAXY back in the 1960s. I liked the mix of stories and Frederik Pohl’s abilities to attract the best Science Fiction writers of that era to send him their stories. The Ninth Galaxy Reader (1966) highlights Pohl’s editorial approach with a variety of stories. I liked the robot future presented in “How the Old World Died” by Harry Harrison.

Larry Niven’s “Wrong-Way Street” is a cunning Time Travel story. John Brunner’s “Wasted On the Young” has been a long-time favorite of mine.

The Ninth Galaxy Reader blends established writers with “new” writers from the Sixties. If you want to take a walk down Memory Lane, The Ninth Galaxy Reader will take you there. GRADE: B

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

• Introduction (The Ninth Galaxy Reader) – (1965) – essay by Frederik Pohl — v
• An Ancient Madness – (1964) – novelette by Damon Knight — 1
• The King of the Beasts – (1964) – short story by Philip José Farmer — 26
• The Watchers in the Glade – (1964) – novelette by Richard Wilson — 28
• Jungle Substitute – (1964) – novelette by Brian W. Aldiss — 64
• How the Old World Died – (1964) – short story by Harry Harrison — 93
• The Children of Night – (1964) – novelette by Frederik Pohl — 98
• To Avenge Man – (1964) – novelette by Lester del Rey — 139
• The Monster and the Maiden – (1964) – short story by Roger Zelazny — 182
• A Flask of Fine Arcturan – (1965) – short story by C. C. MacApp — 184
• Wrong-Way Street – (1965) – short story by Larry Niven — 193
• Wasted on the Young – (1965) – short story by John Brunner — 207
• Slow Tuesday Night – (1965) – short story by R. A. Lafferty — 220

Peggie Noonan, Republican speech writer for Bush and columnist for the Wall Street Journal, wrote the objectives Trump and Harris need to achieve in tonight’s debate: Trump has to prove he’s sane, Harris needs to show good faith.

Karl Rove, long-time Republican strategist, believes the winner of this Presidential Debate will win in November. Kamala Harris is the better debater…but will that matter?

In a recent poll, 91% of the people asked about the Presidential Debate said they would watch it. Are you going to watch the Debate?

You might recall Nate Silver, the statistician, writer, and poker player who analyzes baseball, basketball, and elections. He is the founder of FiveThirtyEight, Silver’s final 2008 presidential election forecast accurately predicted the winner of 49 of the 50 states and the District of Columbia, missing only the prediction for Indiana.  Silver also correctly predicted the winners of every U.S. Senate race.

In 2012, Silver’s political model correctly predicted the winner of every one of the 50 states and the District of Columbia. In the week leading up to the 2016 U.S. presidential election, the FiveThirtyEight team predicted that Hillary Clinton had a 64.5% chance of winning the election. Oops!

Nate Silver left FiveThirtyEight in 2023 and spent his time writing On the Edge: The Art of Risking Everything. As Silver explains in his Introduction, he spent a number of years pursing a career of professional poker gambler. Along the way, he began using probabilistic and statistical modeling to gamble on sports in addition to poker. Eventually, he applied his approach to predicting elections.

Much of On the Edge deals with taking risks. For Silver, everything in Life is risk. But winners find ways to manage risks with insight and analysis. With legalized sports betting and casinos attracting millions of gamblers, Silver advises strategies to take advantage of the current systems in place to make money.

I was fascinated by Silver’s transition from a professional poker player to the leading political analyst in the world. And…his decision to step away from that fame. If you’re interested in politics, gambling, risk-taking, and finance, reading On the Edge will keep you on the edge…and maybe give you an edge! GRADE: A

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Prologue: Motivation — 1

Chapter 0: Introduction — 5

Part 1: Gambling:

Chapter 1. Optimization — 39

Chapter 2. Perception — 80

Chapter 3. Consumption — 131

Chapter 4. Competition — 170

Halftime.

Chapter 13. Inspiration: thirteen habits of highly successful risk-takers — 217

Part 2: Risk:

Chapter 5. Acceleration — 247

Chapter 6. Illusion — 398

Chapter 7. Quantification — 340

Chapter 8. Miscalculation — 382

Chapter ∞. Termination — 405

Chapter 1776. Foundation — 461

Acknowledgments, methods, and sources –– 473

Glossary: How to speak Riverian — 477

Notes — 503

Index — 545

The Buffalo Bills take on the visiting Arizona Cardinals led by the injury-prone Kyler Murray. Vegas has made the Bills a 6 ½ point favorite. Since most of the Bills starters didn’t see any action in the Preseason games, this team–with new Offensive and Defensive Coordinators–is an enigma wrapped in a mystery. How will your favorite NFL team perform today?

Since I recently recovered from the Covid-19 plague, I thought I might like to visit England in 1348 when the Black Death (aka, Bubonic Plague) decimated most of Europe and England. Susanna Gregory sets her story in Cambridge where the University faculty and staff are struck by a number of “accidents” and suicides in addition to the plague deaths.

Physician Matthew Bartholomew investigates the puzzling deaths, especially the “suicide” of his friend, the Master of Michaelhouse. University officials do not want the death investigated, but Bartholomew persists.

Susanna Gregory’s descriptions of the Black Death are horrific. Entire families are killed by the disease. Bartholomew and the few physicians who remain try to comfort the dying while puzzling out the deadly aspects of the plague.

Meanwhile, more suspicious deaths occur and Bartholomew suspects a dark and sinister conspiracy is behind what he believes are murders.

If you enjoy an occasion Medieval mystery like I do, you’ll enjoy A Plague On Both Your Houses (1996). For some bizarre reason, St. Martin’s Press identifies A Plague On Both Your Houses as the Third Chronicle of Matthew Bartholomew. It isn’t. A Plague On Both Your Houses is actually the first book in the Matthew Bartholomew series. GRADE: B

Matthew Bartholomew Series:

1 A Plague On Both Your Houses (1996)
2 An Unholy Alliance (1996)
3 A Bone of Contention (1997)
4 A Deadly Brew (1998)
5 A Wicked Deed (1999)
6 A Masterly Murder (2000)
7 An Order for Death (2001)
8 A Summer of Discontent (2002)
9 A Killer in Winter (2003)
10 The Hand of Justice (2004)
11 The Mark of a Murderer (2005)
12 The Tarnished Chalice (2006)
13 To Kill or Cure (2007)
14 The Devil’s Disciples (2008)
15 A Vein of Deceit (2009)
16 The Killer of Pilgrims (2010)
17 Mystery in the Minster (2011)
     aka Murder in the Minster
18 Murder by the Book (2012)
19 The Lost Abbot (2013)
20 Death of a Scholar (2014)
21 A Poisonous Plot (2015)
22 A Grave Concern (2016)
23 The Habit of Murder (2017)
24 The Sanctuary Murders (2019)
25 The Chancellor’s Secret (2021)

Hemingway said: “All modern literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn… It’s the best book we’ve had. All American writing comes from that. There was nothing before. There has been nothing as good since.”

I first read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn when I was in Junior High School (aka, Middle School). I was in 8th Grade and the whole English class was assigned Tom Sawyer which I read quickly and enjoyed. Our School Library had a copy of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn so I quickly read that, too. The story of Huck, an orphan, and Jim, a runaway slave, traveling on a raft on the Mississippi River made for some thrilling reading.

Fast forward 60 years and now there’s James by Percival Everett. James tells the story of Jim (aka, James) during that trip on the Mississippi River from a slave’s point of view. Several times in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Huck and Jim get separated. James fills in those gaps. And James’ “adventures” are way more harrowing than Huck’s. He’s hunted as a runaway slave with a $300 reward for his capture.

James’ goal is to return to Hannibal and reunite with his wife and daughter…and then head North for freedom. But Everett puts plenty of obstacles and dangers in James’ way.

If you’re a fan of Huck Finn, you’ll be fascinated by the stories James tells. GRADE: A (for both novels)

Selling a million records really isn’t an indicator of quality. But that’s the supposition of NOW THAT’S WHAT I CALL A MILLION. Classic songs like Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” and Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You” rub up against more obscure million sellers like James Arthur’s “Impossible” and Boyzone’s “No Matter What.”

The compilers of this 3-CD set weren’t afraid to go way back to Paul Anka’s “Diana” and Bill Haley And His Comets’ “(We’re Gonna) Rock Around the Clock” for early million selling hits. Elvis is represented by “It’s Now or Never”–one of his lesser songs.

There are plenty of One-Hit Wonders on these CDs: Irene Cara’s “Fame,” Gotye’s “Someone I Used to Know,” and Shaggy’s “It Wasn’t Me” stand out.

Some songs I wasn’t familiar with. Have you heard Atomic Kitty’s “Whole Again”? Or All Saints’ “Never Ever”? Or New Order’s “Blue Monday 88”?

Despite the filler songs, there are plenty of hits here to bring back a lot of memories. How many of these 61 songs do you remember? Any favorites here? GRADE: B

TRACK LIST: