I’ve enjoyed Timothy Zahn’s BLACKCOLLAR and COBRA Science Fiction series over the years. Zahn is a prolific SF writer who has written over 30 novels. Pawn features an alien abduction of an alcoholic woman named Nichole Hammond. Her life on the mean streets of Philadelphia vanishes when Nicole wakes up on a giant starship a thousand light-years from Earth. Nicole is told she’s a “Sibyl,” a human who can communicate with the mind that controls the vessel. So far, so good. But Pawn gets bogged down in Nichole and her work crew fixing broken components of the ship. There’s also a tedious plot centering around food dispensers. After 350 pages, we finally get some Answers about what’s going on (mostly to set up a sequel). But I won’t be reading it. GRADE: C

Lindsey Buckingham and Christine McVie sounds a lot like Fleetwood Mac-lite. The songs are bouncy and lively for the most part. I liked “Red Son” and “Game of Pretend” best. In general, this new CD is vapid and unmemorable. You can safely skip this one. What’s your favorite Fleetwood Mac song? GRADE: C

TRACK LIST:
1. “Sleeping Around the Corner” 3:48
2. “Feel About You” 3:28
3. “In My World” 4:25
4. “Red Sun” 3:15
5. “Love Is Here to Stay” 4:25
6. “Too Far Gone” 3:20
7. “Lay Down for Free” 3:56
8. “Game of Pretend” 4:33
9. “On with the Show” 3:46
10. “Carnival Begin” 3:31

I saw The LEGO Batman Movie early this year. You can read my review here. Today, the DVD and Blu-ray versions go on sale. As you can see, the SPECIAL FEATURES bundled with the movie are extensive. If you’re fan of the LEGO movies, you’ll love this. If you’re a Batman fan, this is a must-buy. Should be a lot of fun!

SPECIAL FEATURES:
Original Animation Shorts: Dark Hoser
– Original Animation Shorts: Batman is Just Not That Into You
– Original Animation Shorts: Cooking with Alfred
– Original Animation Shorts: Movie Sound Effects: How Do They Do That?
– The Master: A LEGO Ninjago Short
– Deleted Scenes
– One Brick at a Time: Making the Lego Batman Movie
– Rebrick Contest Winners
– Inside Wayne Manor
– Brick by Brick: Making of the LEGO Batman
– Behind the Brick
– Me and My Mini Fig
– Trailer 2
– Trailer 3
– Trailer 4
– Lego Life Trailer
– Follow Me Online
– Don’t Skip
– Happy Holidays Jingle
– Batsby New Year’s
– Comic Con Panel
– Team Cutdown
– Director and Crew Commentary

I’m a huge fan of Burt Bacharach and Hal David’s songs so when I heard Rumer had released an all Bacharah/David CD, I had to have it. Rumer had a hit album with Seasons of My Soul back in 2010. This new album mixes familiar Bacharach/David hits with some more obscure songs. Delightful music! What’s your favorite Bacharach & David song? GRADE: A
TRACK LIST:
1 The Look Of Love 4:17
2 Balance Of Nature 4:06
3 One Less Bell To Answer 3:20
4 Are You There (With Another Girl) 3:15
5 (They Long To Be) Close To You 4:05
6 You’ll Never Get To Heaven (If You Break My Heart) 4:04
7 Land Of Make Believe 3:29
8 A House Is Not A Home 3:47
9 Walk On By 3:16
10 The Last One To Be Loved 3:41
11 This Girl’s In Love With You 4:54
12 What The World Needs Now Is Love 3:48

This latest resurrection of The Mummy is directed by Alex Kurtzman who produces Scorpion and Hawaii Five-O on CBS. The Mummy has a TV feel to it as Tom Cruise and his love interest, Annabelle Wallis, discover an Egyptian tomb in Iraq (a weird occurrence). The mummy (Sofia Bontella) in the tomb wants Tom Cruise to become the vessel to embody the God of Death, Set. Yes, there are several scary scenes. Plenty of thrills. Rats, spiders, and deadly birds. Yes, Russell Crowe is wasted in a silly role.

The Wall Street Journal headline to the review of The Mummy read: TOM CRUISE FALLS INTO A SAND TRAP. The movie reviewer, Joe Morgenstern, zinged the acting in The Mummy with lines like: “Jenny Halsey, a beautiful archaeologist played vervelessly by Annabelle Wallis…” Love “vervelessly”! This version of The Mummy doesn’t compare to the 1932 Boris Karloff film or the 1959 Christopher Lee classic. But if you’re looking for a mindless Summer popcorn movie, The Mummy will fit the bill. GRADE: C

The Van Cliburn International Piano Competition began in 1962 and features the world’s best young pianists ages 18 to 30. While the competition is available online at http://www.cliburn.org/ you may find the web site sluggish because of the heavy volume of watchers. FATHOM EVENTS is bringing the Finals to selected theaters so I’ve decided to go see these fine pianists today at our local Regal Theater. If you have any interest in classic music, you’ll enjoy these performances. The Competition starts in the afternoon so there’s still time to buy a ticket!
UPDATE:
Prize Winners of the Fifteenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition

Nancy Lee and Perry R. Bass Gold Medal
Yekwon Sunwoo, 28, South Korea

Silver Medal
Kenneth Broberg, 23, United States

Bronze Medal
Daniel Hsu, 19, United States

Audience Award
Rachel Cheung, 25, Hong Kong

Haffner Press just released these wonderful volumes of Fredric Brown’s short stories. I read a lot of Fredric Brown in the 1960s, but these mystery stories from the Thirties and Forties are mostly new to me. Fredric Brown wrote great mysteries and Science Fiction. Many of these stories are being reprinted for the first time. If you’re a fan of Fredric Brown and stories of this vintage, these two delightful tomes are must-buys. I’m always interested in supporting small presses who publish books like Murder Draws a Crowd and Death in the Dark. You can’t go wrong with these two gems! GRADE: A

MURDER DRAWS A CROWD, TABLE OF CONTENTS:
The Moon for a Nickel, Detective Story Magazine Mar. 38
The Cheese on Stilts, Thrilling Detective Jan. 39
Blood of the Dragon, Variety Detective Feb. 39
There Are Bloodstains in the Alley, Detective Yarns Feb. 39
Murder at 10:15, Clues Detective Stories May 39
The Prehistoric Clue, Ten Detective Aces Jul. 40
Trouble in a Teacup, Detective Fiction Weekly Jul-13-1940
Murder Draws a Crowd, Detective Fiction Weekly Jul-27-1940
Footprints on the Ceiling, Ten Detective Aces Sep. 40
The Little Green Men, The Masked Detective Fall 1940
Town Wanted, Detective Fiction Weekly Sep-7-1940
Herbie Rides His Hunch, Detective Fiction Weekly Oct-19-1940
The Stranger from Trouble Valley, Western Short Stories Nov. 40
The Strange Sisters Strange, Detective Fiction Weekly Dec-28-1940
How Tagrid Got There, unpublished until 1986
Fugitive Imposter, Ten Detective Aces Jan. 41
The King Comes Home, Thrilling Detective Jan. 41
Big-Top Doom, Ten Detective Aces Mar 41
The Discontented Cows, G-Men Detective Mar. 41
Life and Fire, Detective Fiction Weekly Mar-22-1941
Big-League Larceny, Ten Detective Aces Apr. 41 {as by Jack Hobart}
Selling Death Short, Ten Detective Aces Apr. 41
Client Unknown, The Phantom Detective Apr. 41
Your Name in Gold, The Phantom Detective Jun. 41
Here Comes the Hearse, 10-Story Detective Jul. 41 {as by Allen Morse}
Six-Gun Song, 10-Story Detective Jul. 41
Star-Spangled Night, Coronet Jul. 41
Wheels Across the Night, G-Men Detective Jul. 41
Little Boy Lost, Detective Fiction Weekly Aug-2-1941
Bullet for Bullet, Western Short Stories Oct. 41
Listen to the Mocking Bird (NT) G-Men Detective Nov. 41
You’ll End Up Burning!, Ten Detective Aces Nov. 41
Number Bug, Exciting Detective Winter 1941
Thirty Corpses Every Thursday, Detective Tales Dec. 41
Trouble Comes Double, Popular Detective Dec. 41
Clue in Blue, Thrilling Mystery Jan. 42
Death is a White Rabbit, Strange Detective Mysteries Jan. 42
Twenty Gets You Plenty, G-Men Detective Jan. 42
Bloody Murder, Detective Fiction Jan-10-1942
Appendix:
Fredric Brown in Trade Magazines, Part One
The “V.O.N. Munchdriller” stories from The Driller
The “William Z. Williams”” stories from Excavating Engineer
DEATH IN THE DARK, TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Little Apple Hard to Peel, Detective Tales Feb. 42
Death in the Dark, Dime Mystery Mar. 42
The Incredible Bomber, G-Men Detective Mar. 42
Pardon My Ghoulish Laughter, Strange Detective Mysteries Mar. 42
Twice-Killed Corpse, Ten Detective Aces Mar. 42
A Cat Walks, Detective Story Magazine Apr. 42
Mad Dog!, Detective Book Magazine Spring 1942
Moon Over Murder, The Masked Detective Spring 1942
“Who Did I Murder?”, Detective Short Stories Apr. 42
Murder in Furs, Thrilling Detective May 42
Suite for Flute and Tommy Gun, Detective Story Magazine Jun. 42
Three-Corpse Parlay, Popular Detective Jun. 42
A Date to Die, Strange Detective Mysteries Jul. 42
Red is the Hue of Hell, Strange Detective Mysteries Jul. 42 {as by Felix Graham}
Two Biers for Two, Clues Detective Stories Jul. 42
“You’ll Die Before Dawn”, Mystery Magazine Jul. 42
Get Out of Town, Thrilling Detective Sep. 42
A Little White Lye, Ten Detective Aces Sep. 42
The Men Who Went Nowhere, Dime Mystery Sep. 42
Nothing Sinister, Mystery Magazine Sep. 42
The Numberless Shadows, Detective Story Magazine Sep. 42
Satan’s Search Warrant, 10-Story Detective Sep. 42
Where There’s Smoke, Black Book Detective Sep. 42
Boner, Popular Detective Oct. 42
Legacy of Murder, Exciting Mystery Oct. 42
The Santa Claus Murders, Detective Story Magazine Oct. 42
Double Murder, Thrilling Detective Nov. 42 {as by John S. Endicott}
Appendix:
Fredric Brown in Trade Magazines, Part Two
“Willie Skid: Cub Serviceman Says” from Ford Dealer & Service Field
“Let Colonel Cluck Answer Your Questions” from Independent Salesman
“Barnyard Bill Says—” from Feedstuffs

Bill Crider reviewed David Terrenoire’s Beneath a Panamanian Moon here. I found a copy and put it on my Read Real Soon stack. Finally, it floated to the surface and I read it in one gulp. As Bill pointed out, it says “A Mystery” on the cover. But Beneath a Panamanian Moon is a high-octane spy novel. The narrator, John Harper, is a retired spy who now plays piano in clubs and parties. But, something big is going down in Panama so Harper finds himself recruited to find out what’s happening. A pile of bodies, a bunch of explosions, and some gaudy patter later, we discover the plot hatched south of the border. If you’re in the mood for a non-stop action thrill ride, Beneath a Panamanian Moon is just the ticket. GRADE: B+

The second book in The Dagger and The Coin series brings more depth to the story. The major characters find themselves drawn into conspiracies as the King is threatened by the rise of the Spider Cult. As in the first book, The Dragon’s Path (you can read my review here) the young banker, Cithrin, attracts my attention every time her chapters appear. The growing power of the scholar, Geder Palliako, displays the feckless whims of Fate. I’m also impressed by the strength of Clara Kalliam, wife of a key nobleman, who seems to understand people and politics better than her husband does. I’m waiting for the soldier, Captain Mrcus Wester, to leap into action. Right now in The King’s Blood, he’s like a coiled cobra. GRADE: B+

Affairs of the Heart: Classic Tales of Love and Loss Based on the Fiction of Henry James features Diane Rigg, Margaret Tyzack, Pamela Brown, Patricia Routledge, Ian Ogilivy, Anton Rodgers, Jeremy Brett, Derek Jacobi, Eileen Atkins, Sinead Cusack, Edward Harwicke, Cheryl Campbell, David Massey, and Christopher Casenove in 13 hour-long episodes based on Washington Square, “The Marriage,” The Aspern Papers, “Covering End,” Wings of the Dove, “Glasses, “The Tone of Time,” “The Real Thing,” “Lord Beauprey,” An International Episode, “The Beach of Desolation,” Daisy Miller,” “Nona Vincent,” and “The Great Condition.” Acorn Media produced these two sets in an engaging package. If you’re a fan of Henry James, you’ll love these wonderful productions! GRADE: A