J. M. Coetzee was the recipient of the 2003 Nobel Prize in Literature. He once taught briefly at SUNY at Buffalo so there’s a local connection. Coetzee’s essays show he’s a thoughtful reader. In “What is a classic?” Coetzee addresses the question of why some books last and hold their readership while others disappear. I enjoyed Coetzee’s essays on major writers like DeFoe, Richardson, Kafka, Dostoevsky, Borges, and Byatt. Coetzee’s taste for world literature includes writers I was not familiar with like Emants, Mulisch, Nooteboom, Skvorecky, Phillips, Appelfeld, and Pringle (although I have enjoyed many Pringles!). If you’re in the mood for reading some intelligent literary essays, I highly recommend Stranger Shores. GRADE: A
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
What is a classic? : a lecture 1
Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe 17
Samuel Richardson, Clarissa 23
Marcellus Emants, a posthumous confession 34
Harry Mulisch, the discovery of heaven 39
Cees Nooteboom, novelist and traveler 49
William Gass’s Rilke 60
Translating Kafka 74
Robert Musil’s diaries 88
Josef Skvorecky 104
Dostoevsky : the miraculous years 114
The essays of Joseph Brodsky 127
J.L. Borges, collected fictions 139
A.S. Byatt 151
Caryl Phillips 160
Salman Rushdie, the moor’s last sigh 169
Aharon Appelfeld, the iron tracks 179
Amos Oz 184
Naguib Mahfouz, the harafish 191
The poems of Thomas Pringle 203
Daphne Rooke 208
Gordimer and Turgenev 219
The autobiography of Doris Lessing 232
The memoirs of Breyten Breytenbach 249
South African Liberals : Alan Paton, Helen Suzman 261
Noël Mostert and the eastern Cape frontier 272
Notes 282

Felix Cassius Tiberius Carmer III is an orphan who is an apprentice to Antoine the Amazifier, a traveling magician. The Amazifier decides to enter the competition of magicians at the Seminal Symposium of Magickal Arts in the city of Skemantis. In Skemantis, in a beautiful park called the Aboretum, faeries face the threat of human technology. Grit is the young princess of the faeries, but she’s handicapped because she only has one wing. Grit can’t fly, but she can sure get around with the help of her friendly owl. Grit rescues Carmer when he’s attacked by thuggish teenagers and the human and the faerie make a deal to solve the mystery of the vanishing faeries.

Carmer and Grit (2017) is Sarah Jean Horwitz’s first novel. It has a few dull patches that a good editor should have fixed. But, this story of two very different youngsters coming of age and solving a mystery ends up being an entertaining Young Adult novel. I’ll be looking forward to the sequel. GRADE: B-

I’m a fan of DC Universe Animated movies. This new feature, Suicide Squad: Hell to Pay, launches a band of criminal misfits into a mission filled with danger and deception. This version of the Suicide Squad is made up of Deadshot, Killer Frost, Captain Boomerang, and Harley Quinn. Of course, Harley Quinn provides the much needed “comic relief.” The Suicide Squad need to recover a very special card, but they’re not alone in their quest. Professor Zoom, Silver Banshee, and Blockbuster also want the card and the conflict produces some epic battles. If you’re looking for action and suspense, Suicide Squad: Hell to Pay delivers. GRADE: B+
SPECIAL FEATURES:
Outback Rogue: Captain Boomerang
Nice Shot, Floyd! The Greatest Marksman in the DCU
The Power of Plot Devices, MacGuffins and Red Herrings
The Death of Superman preview

Night-Gaunts takes its name from a H. P. Lovecraft poem of the same name. “Night-Gaunts” tells the atmospheric story of a young boy who is abused by his father. When his father dies, the young boy is threatened by creatures–the Night-Gaunts–that only he can see. The Necronomicon makes an appearance. In The Woman in the Window a young woman waits for her lover in the nude, except for her spiky pair of shoes. An unstable wife of a college professor suspects her husband of having an affair with “The Long-Legged Girl” and takes action. “Sign of the Beast” shows what happens when a college student becomes the focus of an unethical science experiment. A young man battling cancer starts stalking a woman in “Walking Wounded.” As you can see, these stories are firmly planted in Joyce Carol Oates country. Oates knows how to modulate the tone of these stories from sinister to creepy to horrific. The ever generous Beth Fedyn sent me this Advanced Reading Copy (Night-Gaunts and Other Tales of Suspense will be published on June 5, 2018). Thanks, Beth! GRADE: B
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
The Woman in the Window 1
The Long-Legged Girl 31
Sign of the Beast 73
The Experimental Subject 121
Walking Wounded 223
Night-Gaunts 277

Steve Martin, Martin Short, and The Steep Canyon Rangers rolled into Buffalo for an evening of comedy and music at Shea’s Performing Arts Center. There was an “audience participation” skit based on The Three Amigos. The Steep Canyon Rangers played a song from their new Blue Grass album. My favorite part of the performance was Steve Martin’s “ventriloquist” bit where Martin Short appears as the “dummy.” Very funny. To jog memories, an overhead video showed some of the highlights of both Steve Martin and Martin Short on Saturday Night Live and scenes from their movies, too. If you’re in the mood for a couple hours of laughs, I’d recommend the Martin & Short comedy evening (aka, “Glad We Saw Them Before They’re Dead”). MARTIN SHORT: GRADE: A
STEVE MARTIN: GRADE: C

A Quiet Place starts with the words “DAY 89” flashed on the screen. A family is rummaging around in a looted pharmacy in a deserted town. They are all being very very quiet. They communicate with hand signals. It doesn’t take long before you find out why they’re being so quiet. Emily Blunt is fabulous in this movie. Her birthing scene–with an alien monster lurking in the background–is classic! I also admire the performance of Millicent Simmonds (a deaf actress) as teenage daughter, Regan, who wears a cochlear implant that provides minimal hearing. John Krasinski directs A Quiet Place and stars as the father of the embattled family surrounded by ravenous aliens who attack at the slightest sound. This is the quietest movie since The Artist. My only quibble is too much “shhhhhing” in the movie. Everyone knows the dangers of sound. GRADE: B

Henry Kane is best known for his private eye series (1947-1972) featuring Peter Chambers in 19 novels. But Henry Kane was a versatile writer. He wrote scripts for NBC’s Peter Gunn and 60 novels. Frenzy of Evil (1963) is one of Henry Kane’s stand-alone novels. The plot revolves around a group of friends who all harbor secrets. Successful lawyer Jonathan Joseph Carson hides the biggest secret: he abuses women. Carson’s new wife is in her 20s–40 years younger than he is. And, of course, secrets have a way of leaking out. Someone in Carson’s group decides that murder might be the best solution to Carson’s spousal abuse. If you’re looking for a psychological thriller with plenty of twists and turns, check out Frenzy of Evil–another classic STARK HOUSE BLACK GAT book! GRADE: B+

I’d like to thank https://marzaat.wordpress.com/ for recommending this book. The Elder Ice is a 74-page tale of what Ernest Shackleton really found on his Antarctic explorations is narrated by ex-boxer Harry Stubbs. Stubbs works for a legal firm and finds himself involved in the famous polar explorer’s legacy which is full of Lovecraftian secrets. David Hambling has really done his homework on Shackleton. I learned a lot about Antarctic exploration with a Mythos twist. I enjoyed this unusual story and I’m eager to read more of David Hambling’s work! GRADE: A-
DAVID HAMBLING BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Novels
The Elder Ice (2014)
Broken Meats (2015)
Alien Stars (2017)
Collections
Shadows from Norwood (2013)
The Dulwich Horror & Others (2015)
Short Fiction
A Question of Blood (2016)
The Mystery of the Cursed Cottage (2017)

The story that affected me most in Carmen Maria Machado’s collection, Her Body And Other Parties (2017), was “Inventory.” A woman takes inventory of her life by making an annotated list of all the men and women she’s had sex with. There’s a compelling story why she’s doing this, but I felt a bit manipulated as a reader following the arc of this story. Most of these stories are fueled by sex. In “The Husband Stitch,” a woman marries a man and promises him she will do anything for him…with one restriction. After two pages, I figured out what the conclusion would be. It’s a variation on the classic story, “The Green Ribbon” and Alvin Schwartz’s In a Dark, Dark Room and Other Scary Stories. None of the women in the eight stories in Her Body And Other Parties seem very happy with their decisions, sexual and otherwise. The only dud is “Especially Heinous” (subtitled “272 Views of Law & Order: SVU”) where Machado provides episode synopses (some are snarky) poking fun at cop TV shows. The “joke” goes on too long. Although Her Body And Other Parties has garnered good reviews, it’s getting a very lukewarm rating from me. GRADE: C
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
The husband stitch 3
Inventory 33
Mothers 45
Especially heinous 65
Real women have bodies 125
Eight bites 149
The resident 169
Difficult at parties 219

I loved the 2003 movie version of School of Rock so I was really looking forward to this musical version since it was announced last year as part of our package at Shea’s Performing Arts Center. An aspiring rock musician, Dewey, gets kicked out of his group. His roommate is pressured by his girl friend to kick Dewey out of their house if Dewey doesn’t pay his overdue rent. In desperation, Dewey pretends to be a substitute teacher at an exclusive private academy in order to earn enough money to pay his rent. This cynical strategy changes when Dewey discovers the young kids in his class are musically gifted. He trains them to compete in “The Battle of the Bands” in order to get revenge on the band that ousted him. But, of course, things change. Yes, the talented young kids actually play their instruments.

In this touring company, Rob Colletti played “Dewey,” a demanding role that keeps Dewey on the stage for almost every scene. I loved Lexie Dorsett Sharp as Dewey’s Principal, Rosalie Mullins, and my favorite song was Rosalie belting out “Where Did the Rock Go?” If you liked Jack Black in School of Rock, you’ll like this musical version of his story. And, of course, the kids are terrific! GRADE: A
SONG LIST:
Act I
“I’m Too Hot for You” – No Vacancy and Dewey
“When I Climb to the Top of Mount Rock” – Dewey
“Horace Green Alma Mater” – Rosalie, Students and Teachers
“Here at Horace Green” – Rosalie
“Variation 7” – Dewey and Ned
“Children of Rock” – Dewey and Ned
“Mount Rock (Reprise)” – Patty
“Queen of the Night” – Rosalie, Dewey and Gabe
“You’re in the Band” – Dewey and Students
“You’re in the Band (Reprise)” – Dewey and Students
“If Only You Would Listen” – Students
“In the End of Time (A Cappella Version)” – Dewey
“Faculty Quadrille” – Teachers
“In the End of Time (Band Practice)” – Dewey and Students
“Stick It to the Man” – Dewey and Students
“In the End of Time (The Audition)” – Dewey and Students
“Stick It to the Man (Reprise)” – Dewey and Students
Act II
“Time to Play” – Summer and Students
“Amazing Grace” – Tomika
“Math Is a Wonderful Thing” – Dewey and Students
“Where Did the Rock Go?” – Rosalie
“School of Rock (Band Practice)” – Dewey and Students
“Dewey’s Confession” – Dewey, Rosalie, Patty, Ned and Parents
“If Only You Would Listen (Reprise)” – Tomika and Other Students
“I’m Too Hot for You (Reprise)” – No Vacancy
“School of Rock” – Dewey and Students
“Stick It to the Man (Encore)” – Dewey and Students
“Finale” – Full Company