Season Three of The Killing moved a little quicker than the glacial pace of the episodes from the first two seasons. But the producers need to watch some episodes of 24 and Orphan Black to really figure out how to keep audiences on the edge of their seats. A serial killer stalks teenage girls, rapes and kills them, then takes a “trophy”–like a ring or necklace–for the experience. Seattle Police Detectives Sarah Linden (played by the intense Mireille Enos) and her druggie partner, Stephen Holder (Joel Kinnaman is amazing!), should wrap up this case during tonight’s 2-hour long finale. If The Killing gets renewed for next season, I’ll continue to watch it despite my quibbles.

I finally got around to seeing Despicable Me 2. After the events of Despicable Me 1, Gru (who used to be a Super Villain) has turned into a Good Guy and spends his time making jams and jellies. But when another Super Villain steals a secret formula to transform living creatures into ravenous monsters Gru joins the Anti-Villain League (AVL) to help find the secret formula before it can be used to take over the planet. Gru’s partner is a ditzy spy named Lucy Wilde (voiced by Kristin Wiig). The minions play their usually comedic tricks. I find these Despicable Me movies fun to watch. GRADE: B+

Hot Times in Magma City collects Robert Silverberg’s short stories and novelettes written between July 1990 to March 1995. This just released collection is VOLUME 8 of the collected short fiction of Robert Silverberg published by the laudable Subterranean Press. There aren’t many writers that I would be willing to invest the time and the money into acquiring their complete works, but Robert Silverberg certainly makes the cut. For over 50 years, Silverberg has written first-rate fiction. I actually think Silverberg’s short fiction is superior to his novels, but I’m sure others will disagree with that assessment. If you’re a fan of science fiction, I highly recommend these wonderful collections! Buy them now while they’re still available.
Table of Contents:
Introduction
In the Clone Zone
Hunters in the Forest
A Long Night’s Vigil at the Temple
Thebes of the Hundred Gates
It Comes and Goes
Looking for the Fountain
The Way to Spook City
The Red Blaze is the Morning
Death Do Us Part
The Martian Invasion Diaries of Henry James
Crossing into the Empire
The Second Shield
Hot Times in Magma City

I’m a sucker for books like Must Read: Rediscovering American Best Sellers. If you glance at the Table of Contents below, you’ll see the essays that explore the best sellers of the past. My favorite essay was on The Godfather which I’ve always thought was undeservingly dismissed as “trash.” The essays with the most surprises (for me, at least) was the publishing history of Peyton Place. If you’re interested in the history of publishing, Must Read will delight you. GRADE: A
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Must Read: Rediscovering American Bestsellers
Sarah Churchwell and Thomas Ruys Smith
2. Missing Numbers: The Partial History of the Bestseller
Sarah Garland
3. The History of Charlotte Temple (1791) as an American Bestseller
Gideon Mailer
4. ‘Like Beads Strung Together’: E.D.E.N. Southworth and the Aesthetics of Popular Serial Fiction
Rachel Ihara
5. Ten Nights in a Bar-Room (1854) and the Visual Culture of Temperance
William Gleason
6. ‘The Man Without a Country’ (1863): Treason, Expansionism, and the History of a ‘Bestselling’ Short Story
Hsuan Hsu
7. Exhilaration and Enlightenment in the Biblical Bestseller: Lew Wallace’s Ben-Hur, A Tale of the Christ (1880)
James Russell
8. ‘Absolutely Punk’: Queer Economies of Desire in Tarzan of the Apes (1912)
J. Michelle Coghlan
9. Ornamentalism: Desire, Disavowal and Displacement in E.M. Hull’s The Sheik (1919)
Sarah Garland
10. Small Change? Emily Post’s Etiquette (1922-2011)
Grace Lees-Maffei
11. Blockbuster Feminism: Peyton Place (1956) and the Uses of Scandal
Ardis Cameron
12. Crimes and Bestsellers: Mario Puzo Path to The Godfather (1969)
Evan Brier
12. Master of Sentiment: The Romances of Nicholas Sparks
Sarah Churchwell
13.The Kite Runner Transnational Allegory: Anatomy of an Afghan-American Bestseller
Georgiana Banita
14. The Fiction of History: The Da Vinci Code (2003) and the Virtual Public Sphere
Stephen Mexal

Todd Mason and Patti Abbott raved about Orphan Black so I finally binged using On Demand. I watched all 10 episodes in three days. Yes, this Canadian science fiction series about clones compels you to watch. Tatiana Maslany plays all the clones with impressive versatility. Why do these clones exist? Who is doing the cloning? Why are the clones being hunted and murdered? We don’t get all the answers to these questions in Season One, but Season Two is being filmed in Toronto as you read this. Orphan Black is head-and-shoulders above other Summer series like Under the Dome (which I’m also watching). Nothing is quite what you think it is. The producers and writer throw in plenty of plot twists and surprises. I can’t wait for more Orphan Black in April 2014! Highly recommended! GRADE: A

Bill Crider, another big Max Schulman fan, wrote about I Was a Teenage Dwarf here. Inspired by Bill, I read Max Schulman’s very funny Rally ‘Round the Flag, Boys! and watched the DVD of the 1958 comedy based on Schulman’s very funny book. Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, and Joan Collins in a comical love triangle: what more could you ask for?

I’ve read all of Richard Ford’s novels and short story collections. Ford is a gifted writer. Canada was published in 2012 to mixed reviews which explains why I hadn’t gotten around to reading it until now. Canada is narrated by Dell Parsons, a college professor in his sixties. Parsons story starts when he was 15 and living in Montana in the Fifties. Dell’s parents decide to rob a bank. You can guess the result. Dell’s sister, Berner, runs away to California with her boyfriend. Dell is taken to Canada by a family friend. That ends Part One. Part Two concerns Dell’s life n Canada where violence also changes his life. Part Three brings us back to the present. I found the three stories really didn’t jell very well. Ford tells three very different stories and tries to blend them. Taken individually, the stories are compelling. But this fragmented novel didn’t work for me. GRADE: C+

Our internist, who had taken very good care of Diane and me for 30 years, died suddenly a month ago. He was 75. Diane and I decided to stay with the same medical group (to avoid all the paperwork and prescription hassles). Diane was assigned to Dr. Patricia O’Donnell (who Diane really likes) and I was assigned to Dr. Eric Koch (pronounced “Cook”) who I’ve only met once, but he impressed me with his thoroughness. I have to go in for blood work before our October appointment. And, I also need an echo cardiogram. Dr. Koch wants his patients to have an echo cardiogram every two years. Diane and I asked both of our new doctors for the Shingles shot. Those ominous ads on TV have freaked us out. And many of our friends have come down with shingles (very painful they report!). So Diane and I both got the Shingles shot and the pneumonia shot. You might consider getting these shots if you’re in your sixties.

The talented Hugh Jackman plays the mutant Logan the Wolverine for the sixth time in this latest installment in the Marvel franchise. The twist in this movie is that the Wolverine, tired and frustrated with his immortal life, becomes mortal. Bullet wounds now don’t heal instantly, arrows and swords can now kill the Wolverine. My quibble with The Wolverine is the absence of a villain with enough gravitas to make the story interesting. Although there’s plenty of action, I never really thought that the Wolverine was at risk. Hugh Jackman carries this movie with his moody presence. This movie is worth seeing, but go in with low expectations. GRADE: B

I’ve been a fan Marvin H. Albert’s work for decades. Albert wrote westerns, suspense fiction, movie novelizations, and mysteries with plenty of panache. The Reformed Gun was published as an paperback original by Gold Medal in 1950. Concho Reynolds takes a bullet during a botched bank robbery in Texas. His partner is killed by the Texas Rangers who start hunting him. Concho heads for Mexico, but his wound worsens. Concho is near death when he’s rescued by a rancher named Grant. Grant and his former partner, Cooley, have had a falling out. Now Cooley wants to kill Grant. Concho has to choose which side to be on and accept the consequences while Concho’s past rushes up to meet him. I found The Reformed Gun enjoyable. Good action, entertaining characters, and an unpredictable plot. A typically fine novel by Marvin H. Albert.