Sorry, Deb, but I have to go with the Seahawks at home. The Seahawks are favored by 8 points, but I think the final score will be closer than that. In the second Playoff game, the Past and the Future collide. Tom Brady faces the QB phenom Andrew Luck. Last year in the Playoffs, the Patriots beat Luck and the Colts 59-24. But that was then and this is NOW. I know New England is favored by 7 1/2 points, but I’m going with the Colts in an upset. Who do you think will win?

Fans of Ed Hoch’s thief, Nick Velvet, will enjoy Gerald Kersh’s tales of Karmesin, who is either the world’s greatest criminal–or most outrageous liar. All of these 17 short stories in Karmesin have been published in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine but it took Crippin & Landru to collect them in one nice volume. Karmesin claims he’s a genius and after reading these crime stories I’m willing to believe it. Blackmail, art fraud, impossible thefts, and trickery feature prominently in these stories. I’m a big fan of Gerald Kersh’s work. If you’re in the mood for some clever storytelling, pick up a copy of Karmesin. You’ll have a couple hours of great entertainment!
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Introduction By Paul Duncan
Karmesin
Karmesin and the Meter
Karmesin and Human Vanity
Karmesin and the Tailor’s Dummy
Karmesin and the Big Flea
Karmesin and the Raving Lunatic
Karmesin and the Unbeliever
Inscrutable Providence
Karmesin and the Invisible Millionaire
Karmesin and the Gorgeous Robes
Chickenfeed for Karmesin
The Thief Who Played Dead
The Conscience of Karmesin
Karmesin and the Royalties
Skate’s Eyeball
Oalamaoa
The Karmesin Affair
Bibliography

It’s the 100th Anniversary of the start of the First World War. Margaret MacMillan’s masterful story of the slow-motion slide into that stupid and deadly war is full of gems like this one:

One of the leading beauties in Europe, the Empress Elisabeth, wife of Franz Joseph of Austria-Hungary, exercised and dieted fantically to keep her looks. …In 1898 an anarchist stabbed her in the heart but her corsets were so tight that she did not die at once. (p. 222)

The absurd military build-ups, the nasty war in the Balkans, the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, and the secret treaties among the Great Powers all led to a war most people thought was unthinkable. New technology–submarines, planes dropping bombs, machine guns, tanks, and poison gas–made warfare much more deadly. My optimism in humanity took a big hit when I finished reading The War That Ended Peace. But I do want to read more of Margaret MacMillan. She made 739 pages fly by! If you’re going to read one book on the causes of World War I, this is the one to choose! GRADE: A

I was unaware of the story behind the Disney movie, Mary Poppins. Walt Disney had been trying to get the rights to make the movie for 20 years. It was only when the author of the Mary Poppins series, P.L. Travers (played wonderfully by Emma Thompson), finds herself in financial difficulties that the sale of the rights to Mary Poppins becomes a possibility. P. L. Travers is a bitter woman, difficult in all respects. Walt Disney (played convincingly by Tom Hanks) and his staff cater to Travers’ moods and whims. But a mystery remains. Using a series of flashbacks, we discover why P. L. Travers was transformed from a dreamy child to a cantankerous adult. GRADE: A

The temperatures here are flirting with zero (wind chill -30). So I thought it would be the right time for a review of the new Disney animated movie, Frozen. In a vaguely Scandinavian country, young Princess Elsa has cyrokinetic powers. But after an accident that almost kills her sister, Princess Anna, Elsa withdraws to her room at the castle. Years later, at the Coronation, Elsa freezes EVERYTHING and flees. Anna chases after her. Based on the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale, “The Snow Queen,” there’s plenty of action, music, and clever animation to hold the attention of little kids and adults. Many of my friends who saw Frozen before I did claimed this was their favorite Disney movie. GRADE: A

It’s been a long time since a cable series captured the spirit of another era. MAD MEN gets the Sixties right. And now Masters of Sex does the same thing for its time period. This drama about the Masters & Johnson sex research that led to the ground-breaking Human Sexual Response. Michael Sheen and Lizzy Caplan are wonderful as the lead characters, Dr. William Masters and Virginia Johnson, the two pioneering researchers of human sexuality. I had low expectations for this series, but the writing and acting are strong. I’ll proclaim Masters of Sex my surprise series of 2013. If you haven’t seen it, check it out.

Yesterday, I correctly predicted the Colts would defeat the Chiefs. And I predicted the Saints would win their first away Playoff game. Today, the Cincinnati Bengals are favored by 7 points over the San Diego Chargers. The Chargers are a chameleon team: some weeks they look great, other weeks they just don’t show up. I’m going with the underrated Bengals in this one.

Although San Francisco 49ers are favored by 2 1/2 points over the Green Bay Packers, I don’t think this game will be that close. The Niners are vastly superior. The weather may play a role in this game, but I still think SF will prevail. Who do you like in today’s games?

There’s plenty of suspense in these two NFL Playoff games. Kansas City, undefeated for over half the season, looks vulnerable. Andrew Luck and the Colts, with their inconsistent play, could win this game by 10 points or lose it by 10 points. The Colts are favored by 2 1/2 points. I’m going with the home team.

The second game generates a lot of mystery. Can the Saints finally win an away Playoff game? I believe the Saints are the better team. But the Eagles are favored by 2 1/2 points. I’m betting the Saints break their away game jinx. I’m picking the Saints. Who do you think will win these games?

The marvelous Haffner Press has just published The Collected Captain Future, Volume 3. The first two volumes were great! I’m a huge Edmond Hamilton fan and some of his best writing can be found in these Haffner tomes. Yes, this is pulp writing, but pulp writing at high level. The original covers are reproduced and there’s a nice selection of interior illustrations included, too. If you’re in the mood for some Sense of Wonder early Science Fiction, you’ll find it here!
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Introduction by Chuck Juzek
“Under Observation” – The Captain Future Letters Column
Quest Beyond the Stars (Captain Future, Win ’42)
Outlaws on the Moon (Captain Future, Spr ’42)
The Comet Kings (Captain Future, Sum ’42)
Planets in Peril (Captain Future, Fll ’42)
“The Future of Captain Future”
Appendix of original interior artwork – See more at: http://www.haffnerpress.com/book/the-collected-captain-future-volume-three/#sthash.DJtZbEul.dpuf

No, this isn’t the REAL Stephen King. It’s the economist Stephen D. King. But his message is as horrifying as any Stephen King novel. King sees weaknesses in our economic system. Serious weaknesses.
Today, nation-states are still shell-shocked, seemingly unable to come to terms with persistent economic and financial disappointed. Policy-makers continue to promise a return to prosperity sooner rather than later. All the while, however, levels of economic activity remain surprisingly muted. Interest rate cuts, fiscal stimulus, quantitative easing and exhortation have all be used to kick-start economic activity, all seemingly to no avail. There is no quick fix. And polices designed to generate recovery may only be prolonging painful stagnation. (p. 68)
King suggests we stop wasting money on fruitless foreign wars, that we improve our public education system, and we rebuild our crumbling infrastructure. I agree. GRADE: A
Table of Contents:

Acknowledgements……………….. vii
Introduction Whatever Happened to the Decades of Plenty?………. 1
Chapter 1 Taking Progress for Granted……………….. 9
Chapter 2 The Pain of Stagnation……………….. 37
Chapter 3 Fixing a Broken Economy……………….. 55
Chapter 4 Stimulus Junkies……………….. 69
Chapter 5 The Limits to Stimulus: Lessons from History……….. 97
Chapter 6 Loss of Trust, Loss of Growth……………….. 121
Chapter 7 Three Schisms……………….. 151
Chapter 8 From Economic Disappointment to Political Instability………… 179
Chapter 9 Dystopia……………….. 207
Chapter 10 Avoiding Dystopia……………….. 231
Notes……………….. 263
Bibliography……………….. 273
Index……………….. 279