Back in 1746, New York City had a population of 7000 residents. A great many of them were slaves. A “Mr. Smith” arrives in New York after a six-week journey on a ship from London (population, 700,000). Mr. Smith immediately runs into trouble. He encounters problems converting his British note into ready cash. The cash Mr. Smith does manage to convert is promptly stolen.

Mr. Smith’s secrets slowly become revealed but what is plain from the first few chapters is that Smith falls in love with the snarky Tabitha Lovell, daughter of his banker. Tabitha’s acid-tongue makes her unpopular in polite society, but Smith tries his best to court the difficult woman. If you’re in the mood for a historical novel with a little romance, I recommend Golden Hill. I read the book after hearing the National Public Radio interview with the author. It’s worth a listen HERE. GRADE: B

The Ghoul King (2016) is the second book in Guy Haley’s “Dreaming Cities” series. The first book in the series, The Emperor’s Railroad, was published by TOR Books in 2015. You can read my review of The Emperor’s Railroad here. In this dystopian future, civilization has been shattered. Quinn, a knight armed with a sword and a pistol, is on a quest that brings him into contact with a rebel group. Quinn agrees to help the group in return for the location of his horse which was stolen from him. The rebel group’s objective involves retrieving forbidden technology from an underground facility. However, the facility is swarming with ghouls. And, as you might have guess, Quinn has to take on the Ghoul King in order to accomplish the mission.

If you’re in the mood for quick, exciting reads I recommend both The Emperor’s Railroad and The Ghoul King. There are still plenty of secrets for Guy Haley to reveal. GRADE: B (for both books)

In the 1950s, two topics held the fascination of the public: amnesia and hypnosis. Dozens of novels and movies used these two elements (I’m sure you can think of several). Richard Matheson’s A Stir of Echoes (1958) centers around Tom Wallace, a guy who is hypnotized at a party and suddenly senses a ghost in his house. In the movie version with Keven Bacon, Tom’s five-year-old son also has the ability to talk to ghosts. The movie takes a turn into Stephen King country as Keven Bacon (aka, “Tom”) becomes obsessed with the case of a missing teenage girl. I was astonished when Bacon starts digging up his back yard searching for the body of the missing girl.

If you’re in the mood for a relentless movie filled with suspense, I recommend Stir of Echoes. Matheson’s novel, A Stir of Echoes is worth reading, too. GRADE: B+ (for both)

Things are looking very dicey for Bob Howard (aka, The Eater of Souls) and the super-secret British agency The Laundry which fights occult threats. A televangelist is now the pawn of a Lovecraftean Elder God called The Sleeper. But The Sleeper is waking up and all hell is breaking loose in the U.S. and now England. Part of the problem is The Laundry is being “replaced” by a private security firm run by The Sleeper’s minions. After all the bureaucratic mumbo-jumbo, Charles Stross delivers 100-page epic battle. If you’re fan of spy fiction and the occult, this mashup will satisfy you. GRADE: B+

THE LAUNDRY SERIES:
The Atrocity Archives (2004, ISBN 1-930846-25-8) Also contains the extra story “The Concrete Jungle,” Best Novella winner, 2005 Hugo Awards
The Jennifer Morgue (2006, ISBN 1-930846-45-2 – set around three years after “The Concrete Jungle”) Also contains the extra story “Pimpf”
“Down on the Farm” (2008 novelette – set about two years after “Pimpf”) available online
The Fuller Memorandum (2010, ISBN 1-84149-770-3 – set about eight years after The Atrocity Archives)
“Overtime” (2009 novelette – set about five months after The Fuller Memorandum) available online
The Apocalypse Codex (2012 – set about nine months after The Fuller Memorandum)
“Equoid” (2013 novelette – Takes place after the events of Down on the Farm, before the events of The Fuller Memorandum) available online
The Rhesus Chart, (2014, ISBN 978-0-425-25686-2)
The Annihilation Score (2015, ISBN 978-0-356-50531-2)
The Nightmare Stacks (2016, ISBN 978-0-425-28119-2)
The Delirium Brief (2017, ISBN 978-0765394668)
The Labyrinth Index (probably 2019?)

Katie and Diane are visiting Montreal and attending the annual comedy festival. I opted to stay home to read and eat pizza. The church in the background was featured in one of Louise Penny’s mysteries. Can you identify it?

If the violent fight scenes in Atomic Blonde look a bit familiar, the director of Atomic Blonde, David Leitch, was the stunt coorderinator of the John Wick movies. Charlize Theron plays a beautiful (but deadly) MI6 operative. The McGuffin in this movie is a “list” of agents hidden in a wrist watch which the KGB, MI6, and the CIA all lust after. James McAvoy is the hyper MI6 section chief in 1989 Berlin. Sofia Boutelia–who starred in the ill-fated The Mummy–is a French agent. Toby Jones and John Goodman mostly glower. The plot is murky. The positive aspect of this movie is that Charlize Theron is on the screen a lot. But she takes a lot of punishment. This is another comic adaptation, based on The Coldest City, a 180-page graphic novel written by Antony Johnston, drawn by Sam Hart, and published in 2012 by Oni Press; a prequel, Dead of Winter, came out last year with art by Steven Perkins. GRADE: B

TRACK LIST:
1. Cat People (Putting Out the Fire) – David Bowie
2. Major Tom (Völlig Losgelöst) – Peter Schilling
3. Blue Monday – Health
4. C*Cks*Cker – Tyler Bates
5. 99 Luftballons – Nena
6. Father Figure – George Michael
7. Der Commissar – After the Fire
8. Cities in Dust – Siouxsie and the Banshees
9. The Politics of Dancing – Re-Flex
10. Stigmata – Marilyn Manson & Tyler Bates
11. Demonstration – Tyler Bates
12. I Ran (So Far Away) – A Flock of Seagulls
13. 99 Luftballons – Kaleida
14. Voices Carry – Til Tuesday
15. London Calling – The Clash
16. Finding the Uhf Device – Tyler Bates
ADDITIONAL MUSIC IN THE MOVIE NOT INCLUDED ON THE SOUNDTRACK:
1. Blue Monday ’88 – New Order
2. Fight The Power – Public Enemy
3. Kack Zukunft – Ausschlag
4. Der Kommissar – After The Fire
5. As Time Goes By – Michael Parnell
6. Behind the Wheel – Depeche Mode
7. Tetris Theme
8. Drinking Song – Alfred Gluten
9. MTV News Theme – Thomas A.C. Weiser and Perry Geyer
10. Fastidious Horses – Vladimir Vysotsky
11. Under Pressure – Queen and David Bowie

Faith Sullivan’s wonderful Good Night, Mr. Wodehouse (you can read my review here) motivated me to drop everything and read a book I’ve had on my shelf for years: Wodehouse on Crime: A Dozen Tales of Fiendish Cunning edited by D. R. Bensen with a Foreword by Isaac Asimov. I’ve read a few of these stories in other collections, but several of these stories were new to me. If you’re in the mood for clever writing, brilliant characterizations, and zany plotting P. G. Wodehouse is a master of all three. Do you have a favorite P. G. Wodehouse work? GRADE: A
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
“Strychnine in the Soup”
“The Crime Wave at Blandings”
“Ukridge Starts a Bank Account”
“The Purity of the Turf”
“The Smile that Wins”
“The Purification of Rodney Spelvin”
“Without the Option”
“The Romance of a Bulb Squeezer”
“Aunt Agatha takes the Count”
“The Fiery Wooing of Mordred”
“Ukridge’s Accident Syndicate”
“Indiscretions of Archie”

National Public Radio had a story on the Best 150 Music Albums By Women. You can see the entire list here. Here’s the list’s Top 10 Albums:

1. Joni Mitchell. BLUE, 1971.
2. Lauryn Hill. THE MISEDUCATION OF LAURYN HILL, 1998.
3. Nina Simon. I PUT A SPELL ON YOU, 1965.
4. Aretha Franklin. I NEVER LOVED A MAN THE WAY THE LOVE YOU, 1967.
5. Missy Elliot. SUPA DUPA FLY, 1997.
6. Beyonce. LEMONADE, 2016.
7. Patti Smith. HORSES, 1975.
8. Janis Joplin. PEARL, 1971.
9. Amy Winehouse. BACK TO BLACK, 2006.
10. Carole King. TAPESTRY, 1971.

What do you think of this list? Do you have a favorite music album by a woman?

If you had to create a sneaker to represent your state, what would it look like? That’s the question Adidas and fashion web site Refinery29 posed to several artists earlier this month. The artists used local flags, flora and fauna, and food for inspiration for their creations. The sneakers were auctioned off to reason money for Women Win, a charity that promotes female empowerment through sports. This pizza sneaker–representing New Jersey–was crafted by Jen Mussari.

Luc Bresson’s Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets is a mess. But, it’s really really stunningly good looking mess. Based on a French SF graphic-novel series, Valerain (Dane DeHaan) and his partner Laureline (Cara Delevingne) are federal agents assigned to protecting Commander Arun Filitt (Clive Owen) from an alien band of kidnappers. The movie drags in spots, but when Rihanna shows up with her pimp, Ethan Hawke, things really blow up (literally). Silly, but fun to watch. GRADE: C+