The Bills are coming off a bye and still reeling from the debacle in London. Miama fired their Head Coach and now looks a little more dangerous. This game could go either way today although the Bills are 3-point favorites. How will your favorite NFL team do today?
Spectre kicks off with the patented James Bond chase scene. Loved it. What I didn’t love was Bond getting holes drilled into his head (with no obvious ill effects) and a weak ending. In between the cool chase scene and the lame ending, Spectre follows the Bond template: Bond finds trouble and explosions result. This is the 50th Anniversary of the first Bond movie. But at 2 hours and 28 minutes, Spectre is a tad long. When Bond “borrows” the Aston Martin DB 10 (that’s the car Daniel Craig is leaning against in the photo above) you expect some wild special effects. But not so much happens. Disappointing. So despite these quibbles, I liked Spectre. I just didn’t like it a lot. GRADE: B
I’m a big fan of the Library of America series (I own most of the volumes) so I was looking forward to reading this latest release: Women Crime Writers: Four Suspense Novels of the 1940s. I had seen the Otto Preminger movie of Laura starring Gene Tierney, Dana Andrews, and Clifton Webb. The novel plays a lot of games with multiple narrators. The movie is better than the book. I’ve had a copy of The Horizontal Man for decades. It’s set in an academic setting. I enjoyed the usual college politics in the novel, but figured out what was going on very early in the novel.
Dorothy B. Hughes’s In a Lonely Place focuses on a series of strangulations. The best novel in this collection is Elixabeth Sanxay Holding’s The Blank Wall. A woman whose husband is fighting in World War II finds her family under siege from blackmailers. A couple murders and plot twists keep the action moving at a break-neck pace.
I’m glad women suspense writers are getting the attention they deserve. Next week for FFB I’ll be reviewing the companion volume: Women Crime writers: Four Suspense Writers: Four Novels of the 1950s.
The Gate at Lake Drive is another one of those “scary” books I read last week to get into the Halloween spirit. Dillon is a monster hunter. He “protects” Northern Ontario in Canada against creatures from another dimension. When a stripper named Rouge Hills hires Dillon, a new and more sinister plot unfolds. If you’re a fan of Jim Butcher’s “Dresden Files” series, you’ll enjoy this off-beat urban fantasy. GRADE: B-
With the run-up to Halloween, I read a bunch of “scary” stories. The Case Against Satan by Ray Russell was published in 1962. Penguin Books just released this new edition with an introduction by Laird Barron. The Case Against Satan anticipates two much more famous books (and movies): Rosemary’s Baby and The Exorcist. A teenage girl and her father show up at a small town church asking for help. After a series of events, the priests begin to suspect the girl is “possessed” by Satan. There’s plenty of room for doubt in this position. Could the girl have psychological problems? Could the priests be wrong? This story will stay with you long after you finish reading it. GRADE: B+
BBC America broadcasted this series back in June 2015. Now it’s available on DVD and Blu-ray. The TV version follows Susanna Clarke’s novel about two magicians in England. Mr. Norrell is the scholar of magic who takes Jonathan Strange as a student. But, soon, the student seems to have surpassed the teacher. Strange assists the British Army against Napoleon at Waterloo using magic to turn the tide of the battle. Like the novel, the story takes a while to get going. But the final magical fireworks are impressive. If you’re looking for something different, you might give Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell a try. GRADE: B+
S. M. Stirling has been writing a series of science fiction novels that are set in a future where the electrical grid stops working. Civilization as we know it ends. Internal combustion engines don’t work, either. In The Change Stirling and a number of other writers contribute stories set in this post-apocalyptic world. I liked “The Venetian Dialectic” by Walter Jon Williams and “The Soul Remembers Uncouth Noises” by John Barnes best. If you’re int the mood for some savvy survivalist fiction, give The Change a try. GRADE: B
Table of Contents:
The Change as setting and secondary world / S.M. Stirling
Hot night at the Hopping Toad / S.M. Stirling
Rate of exchange / A.M Dellamonica
Tight spot / Kier Salmon
Against the wind / Lauren C. Teffeau
The demons of Witmer Hall / M.T. Reiten Bernie,
lord of the apes / John Jos. Miller
The seeker : a poison in the blood / Victor Milán
Grandpa’s gift / Terry D. England
Fortune and glory / John Birmingham
The Venetian dialectic / Walter Jon Williams
The soul remembers uncouth noises / John Barnes
Topanga and the Chatsworth Lancers / Harry Turtledove
The hermit and the jackalopes / Jane Lindskold
The new normal / Jody Lynn Nye
A missed connection / Emily Mah Deor / Diana Paxson
After last week’s debacle in London, the Bills are spending their Bye Week licking their wounds and wishing they were as good as the 7-0 New England Patriots who own the AFC East. How will your favorite NFL team do today?
Todd Mason pointed out that there was some confusion about Alfred Hitchcock’s Witches Brew. I thought there were two different versions of this book with different covers, different stories, but they had the same title. After some literary detective work, I found THREE different versions of Alfred HItchcock’s Witches Brew. with SIX different covers. Check this out:
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
1. To Whet Your Appetite… by Alfred Hitchcock (ghost written)
2. The Wishing-Well by E.F. Benson
3. That Hell-Bound Train by Robert Bloch
4. As Gay As Cheese by Joan Aiken
5. Madame Mim by T.H. White
6. Blood Money by M. Timothy O’Keefe
7. His Coat So Gay by Sterling E. Lanier (a Brigadier Ffellowes novelette)
8. They’ll Never Find You Now by Doreen Dugdale
9. The Widow Flynn’s Apple Tree by Lord Dunsany
10. In the Cards by John Collier
11. Strangers in Town by Shirley Jackson
12. The Proof by John Moore
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
1. Introduction by Alfred Hitchcock (ghost written)
2. Premonition by Charles Mergendahl
3. A Shot from the Dark Night by Avram Davidson
4. I Had a Hunch, and… by Talmage Powell
5. A Killing in the Market by Robert Bloch
6. Gone as by Magic by Richard Hardwick
7. The Big Bajoor by Borden Deal
8. The Gentle Miss Bluebeard by Nedra Tyre
9. The Guy that Laughs Last by Philip Tremont
10. Diet and Die by Wenzell Brown
11. Just for Kicks by Richard Marsten
12. Please Forgive Me by Henry Kane
13. A Crime Worthy of Me by Hal Dresner
14. When Buying a Fine Murder by Jack Ritchie
Table of Contents:
Benson, E. F. The wishing well.
Bloch, Robert. That hell-bound train.
Aiken, Joan. As gay as cheese.
White, T. H. Madame Mim.
O’Keefe, M. Timothy. Blood money.
Lanier, Sterling. His coat so gay.
Dugdale, Doreen. They’ll never find you now.
Dunsany, Lord. The widow Flynn’s apple tree.
Collier, John. In the cards.
Jackson, Shirley. Strangers in town.
Moore, John. The proof,
