I started reading and collecting Science Fiction and Fantasy digest magazines–Amazing, Fantastic, Galaxy, If, etc.–around 1960. Once in a while, I’d run across a copy of Weird Tales but the condition was usually ragged and beat-up. I did read Weird Tales anthologies where I discovered H. P. Lovecraft, Robert Bloch, Robert E. Howard, C. L. Moore, Ray Bradbury, Richard Matheson, and many more terrific writers.

Weird Tales: 100 Years of Weird celebrates this ironic magazine by blending classic Weird Tales stories with some new stories written in the Weird Tales style. If you’re a fan of Weird Tales, this is a must-buy. If you’re a casual fan of Weird Tales, ask your Library to buy a copy and check it out. Are you a fan of Weird Tales? GRADE: A

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

The Third Guy – By Scott Sigler

A Century of Weird – By Lisa Morton

The Game – By Marge Simon

Disappear Donna – By R. L. Stine

Up From Slavery – By Victor LaValle

The Call of Cthulhu – By H.P. Lovecraft

The Circle: Shared Worlds – By Lisa Diane Kastner

Worms of The Earth – By Robert E. Howard

Swords and Sorcery: Weird Tales and Beyond – By Charles R. Rutledge

Cosmic Horror – By James A. Moore

Arched Bridges: Blackout Poetry – By Jessica McHugh

Black Gods Kiss – By C.L. Moore

Legal Rites – By Issac Asimov and Frederick Pohl

The Scythe – By Ray Bradbury

Who You Gonna Call? The Evolution of Occult Detective Fiction – By Henry Herz

Blood Moon – By Owl Goingback

The Vengeance of Nitocris – By Tennessee Williams

Dead Jack and The Case of the Bloody Fairy – By James Aquilone

Slaughter House – By Richard Matheson

The World Breaker – By Blake Northcott

Scratch-off Universe – By Hailey Piper

Church at the Bottom of the Sea – By Michael A. Arnzen

Prezzo – By Keith R. A. DeCandito

How To Make the Animal Perfect? – by Linda D. Addison

Jagganath – By Karin Tidbeck (Curated by former Weird Tales editor Ann VanderMeer)

Bait – By Dana Fredsti

The Damp Man – By Allison V. Harding

NecronomiCommedia: Dante, Doré, nad the Root of Lovecraftian Horror – By Jacopo della Quercia and Christopher Neumann

Lady Cataract Comes to the Mosque – By Usman T. Malik

Cupid is a Knavish Lad – By Laurell K. Hamilton

Vampire Chaser – by Anne Walsh Miller

Judy Collins sings eleven Bob Dylan songs from the early 1960s to the 1990s. Collins sings some songs like “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue” and “Dark Eyes” better than songs like “Bob Dylan’s Dream” or “Like a Rolling Stone.”

I like Collins’s clear voice on songs like “Love Minus Zero / No Limit” and “A Simple Twist of Fate.” Not so much on songs like “With God On Our Side.” The choices of songs on this 1993 CD seem to attempt to provide a survey of Dylan’s music over three decades. Sometimes Judy Collins’s vocals work with some of these Dylan songs…sometimes they don’t. Are you a Judy Collins fan? GRADE: B

TRACK LIST:

1		Like A Rolling Stone (Highway 61 Revisited)
2		It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue (Bringing It All Back Home)
3		Simple Twist Of Fate (Blood on the Tracks)
4		Sweetheart Like You (Infidels)
5		Gotta Serve Somebody (Slow Train Running)
6		Dark Eyes (Empire Burlesque)
7		Love Minus Zero / No Limit (Bringing It All Back Home)
8		Just Like A Woman (Blood on the Tracks)
9		I Believe In You (Slow Train Running)
10		With God On Our Side (Times They Are A-Changing)
11		Bob Dylan’s Dream (Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan)

In his informative Introduction, Francis M. Nevins traces the genesis of Captain Leopold, Homicide, from a solver of crimes to a detective who can see through deceptions and lies to discern the true puzzle hidden by the criminal. In “Circus,” the first Captain Leopold story, a 10-year-old boy is found dead, strangled by a rope. There’s pressure to solve the case quickly, but Leopold uses his unique method to discover the truth.

Nevins makes the point that Edward D. Hoch based Leopold on Simenon’s Maigret, a detective of insights. In fact, in a later story, readers find out that Captain Leopold’s first name is Jules–just like Maigret! This aspect comes into play in “A Place for Bleeding,” where a 15-year-old girl is kidnapped and her chauffeur is murdered. Only Captain Leopold figures out why there are TWO ransom notes.

I also enjoyed “Death in the Harbor” which is a homage to Agatha Christie. I’ve been reading a lot of Edward D. Hoch lately. His skill as a short story writer is on display in Leopold’s Way. Wonderful stories, such a delight to read! GRADE: A

Table of Contents:

Introduction — Francis M. Nevins
Circus,
Death in the Harbor,
A Place for Bleeding,
Reunion,
The House by the Ferris,
The Oblong Room,
The Vanishing of Velma,
The Rainy-Day Bandit,
The Athanasia League,
End of the Day,
Christmas Is for Cops,
The Jersey Devil,
The Leopold Locked Room,
A Melee of Diamonds,
Captain Leopold Plays a Hunch,
Captain Leopold and the Ghost-Killer,
Captain Leopold Goes Home,
No Crime for Captain Leopold,
The Most Dangerous Man Alive,
A Captain Leopold Checklist Francis M. Nevins, Jr.,

Black Magic Woman is the first book in the Quincy Morris Supernatural Investigation series. The book opens with a violent confrontation with a group of vampires. Then, Quincy Morris is hired by a family whose house is under Black Magic attack in Madison, Wisconsin.

Morris and his partner, White Witch Libby Chastain, manage to ward the house against the attacks. But to stop the evil happenings, Morris and Chastain need to track down the person who unleashed the deadly curse on the family.

The investigation leads Morris and Chastain to Boston, San Francisco, New Orleans, and New York. A bigger plot with sinister implications changes the whole focus of the mission. I’m also fond of the cover artwork on these books by Chris McGrath. If you’re a fan of Urban Fantasy, Black Magic Woman will entertain you. GRADE: B-

QUINCY MORRIS & LIBBY CHASTAIN INVESTIGATIONS:

   1. Black Magic Woman (2008)
   2. Evil Ways (2008)
   3. Sympathy for the Devil (2009)
   4. Play With Fire (2012)
   5. Midnight At The Oasis (2013)
   6. Strange Magic (2015)
   Play with Fire / Midnight at the Oasis (2013)

The Buffalo Bills are off today because of they squeaker of a win on Thursday Night Football, 24-18, over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Bills have many injured players and need a little rest. How will your favorite NFL team do today?

With Halloween around the corner, I thought a moody, ambient CD like Coldplay’s Ghost Stories would fit with the season.

Ghost Stories is the sixth studio album by British rock band Coldplay. Co-produced by the band with Paul Epworth along with returning Mylo Xyloto producers Dan Green and Rik Simpson, it was released by Parlophone on May 2014. The album was recorded by the band throughout 2013 and 2014 at the band’s purpose-built home studios in London, England, and in Los Angeles. It features guest producers Avicii, Timbaland and Madeon, and the band’s frequent collaborator Jon Hopkins. The album was nominated for Best Pop Vocal Album at the 57th Grammy Awards and named Top Rock Album at the 2015 Billboard Music Awards.

Several media outlets claimed that Chris Martin had said that Ghost Stories was inspired by his split with his wife, Gwyneth Paltrow, in 2014. Are you a fan of Coldplay’s music? Are you fan of ghosts? GRADE: B+

TRACK LIST:

		Ghost Stories CD
CD-1		Always In My Head	3:37
CD-2		Magic	4:45
CD-3		Ink	3:48
CD-4		True Love Arranged By [Individual Arrangement], Strings – Davide RossiDrums [Extra] – Timbaland	4:06
CD-5		Midnight Co-producer – Jon Hopkins	4:55
CD-6		Another’s Arms	3:54
CD-7		Oceans Mixed By – Daniel Green*, Rik Simpson	5:22
CD-8		A Sky Full Of Stars Written-By, Co-producer – Tim Bergling	4:28

My favorite story in Murder for Halloween (1994) is Edward D. Hoch’s clever Nick Velvet heist, “The Theft of the Halloween Pumpkin.” Nick Velvet only steals worthless items so when a woman wants to hire him to steal a Halloween pumpkin, Velvet accepts. Only later does Velvet learn that sometimes a Halloween pumpkin can be more than a pumpkin.

I also enjoyed Ellery Queen’s “The Adventure of the Dead Cat” where a game at a Halloween Party turns deadly. Steven Saylor, who specializes in crime-solving in the Roman Empire, delivers “The Lemures,” a story about lemures (aka, the unquiet dead) and murderous deception.

It was fun to reread Robert Bloch’s “The Cloak,” a story he wrote back in 1939. Vampires are involved. Gahan Wilson, best known for his cartoons, made me laugh with “Yesterday’s Witch,” with a witch named Miss Marbles (a sly nod to Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple).

Murder for Halloween offers a variety of stories with various settings and characters. If you’re in the mood for Halloween stories with an edge, Murder for Halloween certainly provides some memorial tales! GRADE: B+

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

PREFACE — xiii

Monsters / Ed McBain — 1

The lemures / Steven Saylor — 9

The adventure of the dead cat / Ellery Queen — 43

The odstock curse / Peter Lovesey — 65

The theft of the Halloween pumpkin / Edward D. Hoch — 81

Hallowe’en for Mr. Faulkner / August Derleth — 99

Deceptions / Marcia Muller — 111

The black cat / Edgar Allan Poe — 135

Omjagod / James Grady — 147

The cloak / Robert Bloch — 173

What a woman wants / Michael Z. Lewin — 191

Yesterday’s witch / Gahan Wilson — 211

Walpurgis night / Bram Stoker — 221

Trick or treat / Judith Garner — 237

One night at a time / Dorothy Cannell — 243

Night of the goblin / Talmage Powell — 267

Trick-or-treat / Anthony Boucher — 279

Pork pie hat / Peter Straub — 297

ABOUT THE EDITORS — 363

After the 29-25 loss to the New England Patriots, the Bills now face a much better team on Thursday Night Football. Despite the loss at Foxboro, Vegas has the Buffalo Bills as an 8 1/2 point favorite over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. After playing three terrible games in a row, this is Make-It-Or-Break-It time for the Bills in their Playoff quest. Go Bills!

Paula Guran’s 2012 anthology, Witches: Wicked, Wild & Wonderful, provides a broad survey of stories involving women with magical powers. One of my favorite stories is Tanith Lee’s “Mirage and Magia” where a powerful witch uses her powers to steal the sight and thoughts of young men in her domain.

Neil Gaiman’s “The Witch’s Headstone”–a short story that Gaiman later included as a chapter in his The Graveyard Book–opens new depths to witchery. Madeleine L’Engle–best known for her classic A Wrinkle in Time–delivers a powerful story about a young boy who discovers a witch living in his neighborhood, but only he knows she’s there. “Skin Deep” by Richard Parks explores witchcraft and love.

If you’re looking for an entertaining anthology of stories to get you into the Halloween spirit, give Witches: Wicked, Wild & Wonderful a try! GRADE: B+

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Introduction / Paula Guran — 7

Walpurgis afternoon / Delia Sherman — 11

Nightside / Mercedes Lackey — 34

The cold blacksmith / Elizabeth Bear — 50

Basement magic / Ellen Klages — 59

Mirage and magia / Tanith Lee — 85

Lessons with Miss Gray / Theodora Goss — 101

The world is cruel, my daughter / Cory Skerry — 127

Ill met in Ulthar / T.A. Pratt — 138

The witch’s headstone / Neil Gaiman — 157

Boris Chernevsky’s hands / Jane Yolen — 180

Bloodlines / Silvia Moreno-Garcia — 188

The way wind / Andre Norton — 199

Poor little Saturday / Madeleine L’Engle — 227

The only way to fly / Nancy Holder — 242

Skin deep / Richard Parks — 248

The robbery / Cynthia Ward — 270

Marlboros and magic / Linda Robertson — 276

Magic carpets / Leslie What — 294

The ground whereon she stands / Leah Bobet — 307

Afterward / Don Webb — 320

April in Paris / Ursula K. Le Guin — 328

The goosle / Margo Lanagan — 339

Catskin / Kelly Link — 352

About the Authors & Acknowledgements — 376