Welcome to H. P. Lovecraft Week here on this blog! There are dozens of Lovecraft-inspired novels and short story collections being published each year. I thought I would feature some of the best Lovecraft material for your enlightenment and pleasure. Who can pass up alien soul-sucking entities, eldritch spells, and lurking doom? What better material to read during the run-up to the Republican Convention?

Although marketed as a novel, Lovecraft Country is really a series of interrelated stories with an ensemble cast of characters. Most of the characters are African-Americans. The stories are set in 1954. The United States in that period had a high degree of racism. One of the characters, George, operates a travel agency and publishes The Safe Negro Travel Guide that identifies areas to stay away from, and hotels and motels where African-Americans would be welcomed. The Lovecraft elements center around a rare book called The Book of Names that’s written in “the language of Adam.” Whoever masters the book is able to wield immense power. Atticus is an Army veteran who travels from Florida to Chicago because his father asks for his help. Atticus discovers his father, Montrose, is being held by a coven in Massachusetts. That adventure set off a series of mysterious events where cataclysmic threats hover over our world. My favorite characters are sisters: Ruby and Letitia. Both women encounter weirdness on a cosmic scale. I enjoyed this off-beat approach to Lovecraft’s Universe and hope that Matt Ruff writes more stories about the complex characters he’s created. GRADE: A
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Lovecraft Country
Dreams of the Which House
Abdullah’s Book
Hippolyta Disturbs the Universe
Jekyll in Hyde Park
The Narrow House
Horace and the Devil Doll
The Mark of Cain
Epilogue
Acknowledgements

In the aftermath of the disasterous BREXIT vote, a movie like Our Kind of Traitor (based on the John Le Carre novel of the same name) gathers more impact. Ewan McGregor (a college professor) and his beautiful wife (Naomie Harris), on a holiday in Marrakesh, meet a boisterous Russian (Stellan Skarsgard) named Dema. Dema takes Ewan’s character aside and tells him he’s the chief money launderer for the Russian Mafia. But, he wants to leave. Dema gives Ewan a memory stick filled with secret financial information. Ewan gives the memory stick to MI6 when he arrives in London. But, the story doesn’t end there. Dema won’t give the really juicy financial information up until MI6 provides sanctuary for his family. Ewan and Harris find themselves involved in the negotiations and the movie’s action scenes. I really liked Damian Lewis as the MI6 operative who wants to damage the Russian Mafia and keep their dirty bank out of England. I also liked Jeremy Northam as the traitor who is willing to sell his country’s financial system to the Russians. But the star of Our Kind of Traitor is Stellan Skarsgard, Skarsgard’s energy powers this impressive film.

Before the BREXIT vote, John Le Carre and a number of British writers signed a petition predicting that a post-BREXIT Britain, separated from the European Union, would be reduced to “an outsider shouting from the wings” on the world stage. Our Kind of Traitor shows why Le Carre feels that way. GRADE: A

Back in 1972, Playboy published “A Meeting With Medusa,” a novella by Arthur C. Clarke. It’s the story of an exploration mission to Jupiter. Cyborg astronaut, Howard Falcon, discovers alien life on Jupiter in that classic story. Alastair Reynolds, just a youth back in 1972, was electrified by “A Meeting With Medusa” and would later pursue a Ph.D. in astronomy. Years later, Stephen Baxter and Alastair Reynolds exchanged a series of emails where they came up with the idea of exploring the Jupiter that Arthur C. Clarke describes. The result is The Medusa Chronicles. Sadly, I have to report mixed results. Jupiter is still the star of the book, but Baxter and Reynolds brew a Human Vs. Machine plot that wears thin after 400 pages. Sometimes you can’t go home to Jupiter again. GRADE: C+

About a decade ago, I decided to read all the Nero Wolfe series in order. It took me about a year (work got in the way). Rex Stout wrote 33 novels and 39 short stories from 1934 to 1975. Some of the Nero Wolfe books are fabulous. My favorite Nero Wolfe novel is The Golden Spiders. The Golden Spiders was published in 1953 when Rex Stout was at the height of his powers. Wolfe is confronted by three murders and a paucity of clues. But the key clue is a pair of golden spider earrings. And the spider metaphor leads Wolfe and Archie to the killer. But the unraveling of the mystery is cunning and the solution is ingenious. I also enjoyed the Timothy Hutton and Maury Chaykin TV version of The Golden Spiders. I’ve sure other Nero Wolfe fans will have different choices, but if you’re looking for the best Nero Wolfe novel, here it is.

Finally, after a couple months of rumors and innuendo, the College formally announced their Retirement Incentive package. You can read about all the details here. In order to get the Retirement Incentive, senior faculty have to agree to teach the Fall Semester. A letter informing the College that I’m retiring has to be filed by September 30. Once I retire in January 2017, I’ll receive a check for $45,000 (there are also some annuity options I’ll consider so I won’t have to pay any taxes on that amount). In addition, the College will buy my Sick Hours (I have over 3,000). That money will go into an account that will pay for my Blue Cross/Blue Shield health insurance plan for the next decade or so. So I’ll be retiring at the end of the year. Thank you for all of your valuable Good Advice!

Who doesn’t like a good mummy story? Certainly, Jonathan E. Lewis (son of former DAPA-EM member Steve Lewis) does. He writes an informative introduction to the history of mummies and supplies insightful comments before each story explaining why the story was included in this fine collection. I was familiar with Poe’s “Some Words With a Mummy” and Arthur Conan Doyle’s “Lot No. 249” but most of these stories were new to me. I especially liked Frank Belknap Long’s “The Dog-Eared God” and the two Sax Rohmer stories: “The Cat” and “The Whispering Mummy.” If you’re looking for some suspenseful Summer fiction, Ancient Egyptian Supernatural Tales will wrap you up in thrills and chills! GRADE: A
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Introduction by Jonathan E. Lewis
Part I: The Genre’s Origins
Excerpt from The Mummy by Jane Webb Loudon
“Some Words with a Mummy” by Edgar Allan Poe
“Lost in a Pyramid” by Louisa May Alcott
“Lot No. 249” by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Excerpt from Jewel of Seven Stars by Bram Stoker
Part II: The Weird
“The Vengeance of Nitocris” by Tennessee Williams
“Smith and the Pharaohs” by H. Rider Haggard
“The Dog-Eared God” by Frank Belknap Long
“Tarbis of the Lake” by E. Hoffmann Price
“The “Soul of Ra-Moses” by Frank Murray Reynolds
Part III: The Extraordinary and the Exotic
“The Wings of Horus” by Algernon Blackwood
“A Descent Into Egypt” by Algernon Blackwood
“The Lost Elixir” by George Griffith
“The Cat” by Sax Rohmer
“The Whispering Mummy” by Sax Rohmer
Notes for Further Reading

Sophie, an orphan in a shabby orphanage in England, is reading at 3 A.M. when she sees a giant. And, of course, the giant grabs Sophie and takes her to Giant Land. There Sophie learns that there are other giants who delight in eating children. Her giant, the BFG, is a Big Friendly Giant. Roald Dahl’s classic children’s book from 1982 doesn’t quite come to life for Stephen Spielberg in this new movie. Mark Rylance plays the BFG to perfection. Ruby Barnhill portrays the lovable Sophie. The hungry giants are suitably grubby and crude. But Spielberg sanitizes Dahl’s The BFG and takes much of the fun out of it. The script, by Melissa Mathison, doesn’t have the magic of E.T. GRADE: C+

The Great Game begins with the death of Mycroft Holmes. Lavie Tidhar wrote this odd steam-punk novel back in 2012. England is ruled by alien lizards. Intelligent machines are on the rise. Humans battle the forces of darkness. Set in the early 20th Century in some weird alternate reality, a retired spy named Smith is reactivated to find out who murdered Mycroft Holmes. Two female agents join Smith in his investigation. But despite the battle scenes and the addition of Harry Houdini to the mix, I found The Great Game an overstuffed sausage. In this case, less would have been more. GRADE: C+

“What is wrong with you?” asked Lawrence O’Donnell of MSNBC when Anthony Weiner showed up for an interview. Weiner follows the disgraced former New York congressman as Weiner tries to resuscitate his political career by running for the Mayor of New York City. Josh Kriegman and Elyse Steinberg were given unprecedented access to the candidate. And, trust me, there are dozens of cringe-worthy moments in this documentary. Weiner begins with optimism and hope. Anthony Weiner’s beautiful, intelligent wife–Huma Abedin (an aide to Hillary Clinton)–supports her husband’s bid. But, we all know the Titanic is heading for the iceberg. Weiner’s previous sexting with women on the Internet (while his wife was pregnant) is suddenly eclipsed by new revelations of Weiner sending photos of his “private parts” to women like Sidney Leathers. The Weiner campaign goes into crisis mode.

Why did Weiner send photos of his penis to women on the Internet. Why did Weiner call himself “Carlos Danger”? Why did Huma Abedin stay with Weiner? Weiner doesn’t answer these questions. But watching this a slow-motion political train-wreck on an epic scale took my breath away. GRADE: A