It’s that time of year again to fire up Turbotax Deluxe and go through the tax filing routine. I like the e-filing feature. I like the New York State Tax download. And, I like the Audit Risk Meter that assesses your risk of drawing IRS attention.
I’ve been using Turbotax since the 1990s. Some years the software was better than others. But now, Intuit–the company that bought Turbotax–has this program refined and made it easy to use.
Have you done your taxes yet?
Matthew Stewart believes the .01%–the billionaires–run the Economy for their own benefit. However, the top 9.9% also influences American culture. In the Past, the 9.9% might have been considered “Middle Class”. With income inequality in America now forcing more people to live near the poverty line, the 9.9% should be considered Upper Class.
So, why should we care about income inequality? According to Stewart: ” In 2016, 46% of Trump supporters knew or suspected that Hillary Clinton was involved in a child sex right that operated in the back of a pizza restaurant; 43% maintained that human beings did not evolve from any other species; 39% said the Stock Market went down under Obama; 27% accepted as fact that vaccines cause autism; and 25% thought Ted Cruz just might be the Zodiac Killer.” (p. 250).
Our broken educational system–especially during the Pandemic–deprives students from gaining the skills and knowledge that would give them access to well-paying jobs. It would also provide them with reasoning skills to arm them against Fake News and Alternative Facts so they’re harder to infect with dangerous, deadly beliefs. “This is a country where people actually debated whether the Covid-19 virus could be traced back to women having sex with demons or if it was all due to the use of ground-up alien DNA in medicines.” (p. 251)
Matthew Stewart shows how symbolic conflicts over identity –mask or no mask–deflects the needed analysis into income inequality. It’s no accident that most Trump supporters lacked college educations, worked low-pay service jobs, and got most of their “information” from FOX NEWS and conservative Facebook accounts. Unless we fix this problem, Stewart says we’ll see the same dynamic in 2024.
Do you see increasing inequality where you live? GRADE: B+
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Who We Are — 1
Why We Have Such Amazing Children — 25
Why We Get Along So Well with the Other Sexes — 47
Why We Are So Highly Educated — 67
Why Our Neighborhoods Are the Best — 97
Why We Believe in Merit — 119
Why We Make So Much Money — 151
Why We Are So Fit — 181
Why Other People Are So Racist — 207
Why Everyone Is So Unreasonable — 237
How We Might Get a Clue — 269
Acknowledgements — 291
Notes — 293
Index — 329
Erles Stanley Gardner is best known for his courtroom dramas featuring lawyer Perry Mason (82 novels in the series).. Gardner’s also known for his Donald Lam/Bertha Cool series (30 books) of unconventional private eye novels.
The Clue of the Runaway Blonde (1947) introduces Sheriff Bill Edon, a lawman pushing 70 with politicians poised to attack him if he doesn’t solve a murder and untangle the mystery of a wealthy businessman’s estate. GRADE: B
The Clue of the Hungry Horse (1947) begins with a death of a young woman in a stable, seemingly killed by a kick from a horse. But Sheriff Bill Edon, still dogged by politicians who think he is “out of touch” with contemporary investigative procedures, finds the evidence to prove the woman was murdered. But why? GRADE: B+
The Clue of the Screaming Woman (1949) was “lost” for 30 years. The story was originally serialized in Country Gentleman magazine, issues January through April 1949, and never reprinted until Ellery Queen’s Secrets of Mystery volume published it in 1979. A man is shot during a hunting excursion by a group of wealth people. Sheriff Bill Eldon doubts that Frank Ames, a World War II veteran, is the culprit even though the dead man was shot with Ames’s gun.
Once again, Sheriff Bill Eldon finds himself mocked and underestimated as he investigates the murder. Erle Stanley Gardner includes a love story along with a fascinating mystery.
If you’re looking for solid detection and puzzle solving, I recommend the Sheriff Bill Eldon series to you. While not as popular as Perry Mason and Lam/Cool, the Eldon series delivers plenty of entertaining fun! I rate The Clue of the Screaming Woman a B+. Some small press should collect all three of these stories in one volume. Are you an Erle Stanley Gardner fan?
I’ve had a long relationship with Jackson Browne and his music. It started back in the Sixties when my favorite song on Nico’s Chelsea Girl album was “These Days” by teenager, Jackson Browne (you can read my review of Chelsea Girl here). Later, I bought Jackson Browne’s albums, read about his breakup with Joni Mitchell, and enjoyed his collaborations with The Eagles and Linda Ronstadt.
In the 1980s, musical tastes changed and Jackson Browne pretty much fell off the grid. Just by serendipity, I found this 4-CD box set of Jackson Browne’s performances from 1972 (Disc One), 1986 (Disc Two), and 1994 (Disc Three and Disc Four). The quality of the live FM broadcasts vary, but I found them listenable. Are you a Jackson Browne fan? Any favorites here? GRADE: B+
TRACKLIST:
| 1-1 | Take It Easy Written-By – Frey*, Browne* | 3:34 | |
| 1-2 | Jamaica Say You Will | 4:16 | |
| 1-3 | Jesus In 3/4 Time Written-By – Souther | 4:08 | |
| 1-4 | Song For Adam | 5:58 | |
| 1-5 | These Days | 3:17 | |
| 1-6 | Colors Of The Sun | 4:48 | |
| 1-7 | Redneck Friend/Sweet Little Sixteen Written-By – Berry*, Browne | 5:49 | |
| 1-8 | Corrina Corrina Arranged By – Browne*Written-By – Trad | 4:24 | |
| 1-9 | My Opening Farewell | 9:21 | |
| 1-10 | For Everyman | 7:43 | |
| 1-11 | Rock Me On The Water | 5:47 | |
| 1-12 | Looking Into You | 6:43 | |
| 1-13 | Talk | 2:35 | |
| 1-14 | Something Fine | 4:04 | |
| 2-1 | Boulevard | 4:16 | |
| 2-2 | Tender Is The Night Written-By – Kortchmar*, Browne*, Kunkel | 4:40 | |
| 2-3 | In The Shape Of A Heart | 6:20 | |
| 2-4 | Candy Written By – Copeland*Written-By – Stocker | 4:49 | |
| 2-5 | Downtown | 4:39 | |
| 2-6 | For Everyman | 7:15 | |
| 2-7 | Lawyers In Love | 4:59 | |
| 2-8 | Soldiers Of Plenty | 5:01 | |
| 2-9 | Black And White | 5:31 | |
| 2-10 | Late For The Sky | 5:34 | |
| 2-11 | Lives In The Balance | 4:50 | |
| 2-12 | Lawless Avenue Written By – Browne*Written-By – Calderón | 6:50 | |
| 2-13 | For America | 5:12 | |
| 2-14 | Running On Empty | 5:22 | |
| 2-15 | Doctor My Eyes | 3:50 | |
| 2-16 | For A Rocker | 3:59 | |
| 3-1 | Two Of Me, Two Of You | 3:06 | |
| 3-2 | Doctor My Eyes | 4:50 | |
| 3-3 | I’m Alive | 5:16 | |
| 3-4 | World In Motion Written-By – Doerge*, Browne | 5:02 | |
| 3-5 | Everywhere I Go | 6:39 | |
| 3-6 | My Problem Is You | 5:06 | |
| 3-7 | In The Shape Of A Heart | 6:24 | |
| 3-8 | Late For The Sky | 5:59 | |
| 3-9 | Your Bright Baby Blues | 6:29 | |
| 3-10 | Miles Away | 4:27 | |
| 4-1 | Too Many Angels | 7:57 | |
| 4-2 | For Everyman | 7:14 | |
| 4-3 | Boulevard | 3:51 | |
| 4-4 | That Girl Could Sing | 5:50 | |
| 4-5 | Sky Blue And Black | 6:21 | |
| 4-6 | Band Intro | 1:34 | |
| 4-7 | The Pretender | 7:00 | |
| 4-8 | Running On Empty | 5:01 | |
| 4-9 | The Load Out/Stay Written-By – Garofalo*, Browne* | 9:47 | |
| 4-10 | Linda Paloma | 4:59 | |
| 4-11 | 1994 Interview | 4:36 |
Disc 1 – From A Live FM Broadcast Recorded at the State University Of New York, Stony Brook, NY, 24th January 1972.
Disc 2 – From A Live FM Broadcast Recorded at the Rockaplast Festival Grugahalle, Essen, Germany 15th March 1986.
Discs 3 and 4 – From A Live FM Broadcast Recorded at the Hult Centre For The Performing Arts, Eugene, OR, 1st March 1994.
All Songs Written By Jackson Browne Except Where Noted.
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:
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:
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
| Revelation Space Universe The Inhibitor Sequence: Revelation Space. London: Gollancz, 2000. ISBN 978-0-44-100942-8Redemption Ark. London: Gollancz, 2002. ISBN 0-575-06879-5 Absolution Gap. London: Gollancz, 2003. ISBN 0-575-07434-5 Inhibitor Phase. London: Gollancz, 2021. ISBN 978-0-57-509071-2 |
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: