Last week, the Bills were cruising 21-7 over the New England Patriots in the Third Quarter. Then the Bills turned into the Titanic and the Patriots turned into the iceberg. The Bills lost 52-28 in a debacle of epic proportions. Today, the lowly Bills face a better team than the Patriots in an away game. The Bills are 9-point underdogs (which I find too low…I figured the spread would be 12 points at least). I have low expectations for this game. How is your favorite NFL team going to do today?

I’m a mild fan of Diana Krull’s work. But, increasingly, the packaging of a Diana Krall CD seems to have taken priority over the music. Glad Rag Doll reveals this marketing strategy clearly. Here’s Diana Krall in a sexy outfit on the cover. If the music on the CD was as hot as this cover, I’d be recommending it. After listening to the entire CD a couple of times, I like only “Wide River to Cross.” The rest of the songs don’t stir me a bit. GRADE: C
TRACK LIST:
1. We Just Couldn’t Say Goodbye 3:07
2. There Ain’t No Sweet Man That’s Worth The Salt Of My Tears 4:29
3. Just Like A Butterfly That’s Caught In The Rain 3:43
4. You Know – I Know Ev’rything’s Made For Love 3:47
5. Glad Rag Doll 4:34
6. I’m A Little Mixed Up 4:36
7. Prairie Lullaby 4:22
8. Here Lies Love 5:09
9. I Used To Love You But It’s All Over Now 2:50
10. Let It Rain 5:44
11. Lonely Avenue 6:57
12. Wide River To Cross 3:51
13. When The Curtain Comes Down

The Collected Stories of Robert Silverberg, Volume Seven: We Are for the Dark (Stories from 1987-1990) is the just published tome by Subterranean Press. I feel Silverberg published his best short fiction in the Seventies and Eighties. This volume includes the 1989 Hugo Award winning novelette, “Enter A Soldier. Later: Enter Another.” But there are plenty of other good stories in this collection. The title story, “We Are For the Dark,” is memorable. Subterranean Press plans two more volumes to complete this Silverberg series: Hot Times in Magma City: The Collected Stories Volume 8 (2013) and The Millennium Express: The Collected Stories Volume 9 (2014). Reading the complete Silverberg oeuvre reveals a writer who continued to produce astonishing work for five decades.
Table of Contents
Introduction
The Dead Man’s Eyes
Enter A Soldier. Later: Enter Another
To The Promised Land
Chip Runner
A Sleep And A Forgetting
In Another Country
The Asenion Solution
We Are For The Dark
Lion Time in Timbuctoo
A Tip On A Turtle

In hopes of finding those Louise Penny books that Rick and Carl have raved about, I took a drive over the Border to Canada’s biggest bookstore, The Book Depot, in St. Catherines. I’ve taken Patti Abbott and her husband, Phil, to this massive warehouse filled with thousands of remaindered books. I found two Pennys, and several more books. I bought some duplicates for friends. This whole order came to a mere $93. A pittance considering these are all like-new hardcovers. If you’d like to check out The Book Depot web site, just click here.

By the time you read this, Diane and I should be on the road headed for Cleveland. I was trying to figure out how many Bouchercons I’ve been to (with and without Diane). I came up with a dozen, give or take… I’ve enjoyed every BOUCHERCON I’ve ever attended. Yes, some of the panels are fun, but the friends who attend make the time special. Diane and I hope to see the Meyersons, Beth and Maggie, Art Scott, Steve Stilwell, the Teds, Tina, and a bunch more. There are always surprises at these BOUCHERCONs. That’s half the fun! If you’re within driving distance of Cleveland, you should think about dropping in and hanging out with us. You’ll be glad you did. Oh, and did I mention the free books?

Taken 2 opens on Friday so I’m assuming this promotion is an attempt to goose up the Opening Weekend numbers. Sam’s Club, and I’m assuming other wholesalers like BEST BUY, are selling Taken for $9.98 with a $10 coupon good for a ticket to Taken 2. That’s right: you pay nearly $10 for the Blu-ray version of Taken and you get a free ticket to Taken 2 worth $10. If you haven’t seen Taken it’s basically a kidnap movie. Liam Neeson’s daughter gets kidnapped and Liam spends the bulk of the movie tracking down the kidnappers and killing them. Plenty of action and suspense! I’m taking a wild guess that Taken 2 will be more of the same. Fine with me!

End of Watch walks the tightrope of blending comedy with brutal reality. Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Pena play two L. A. cops who make one bust too many and as a result become marked for death by a Mexican drug cartel. Jake Gyllenhaal’s role of the brainy cop works well against Michael Pena’s brilliant role as an emotional, family-oriented cop. The on-screen chemistry of these two actors is both funny and moving. We’ve all seen plenty of cop movies, but End of Watch breaks some new ground. Don’t miss it! GRADE: A-

Last year at this time, the Bills pulled off an enormous upset over the New England Patriots. The Patriots had a 21-0 lead and suddenly the Bills woke up and began making plays. The Patriots had a 15-game winning streak over the hapless Bills. But not this day. The Bills came back and beat the Patriots 34-31. What is going to happen today? Your guess is as good as mine. The Bills are 2-1, the Patriots are 1-2 and angry. If the Bills are going to make the playoffs this year, they need to beat some Good Teams. This game is a good place to start. What’s happening with your favorite NFL team?

Tonight, according to the rumors, will be Karen Gillian’s last episode as Companion to The Doctor. The DOCTOR WHO series has had a long history of Companions, but none as winsome and feisty as Karen Gillian. And, being a redhead helps, too. If you haven’t seen a DOCTOR WHO episode, don’t be afraid. Just jump right in. You’ll figure out what’s going on in this series that’s nearing its 50th Anniversary. It isn’t rocket science, its Tardis science (sorry, inside joke).

Jeff Meyerson, Patti Abbott, and I read a short story each day. Occasionally, I read literary short stories. But I’m also a fan of Otto Penzler’s THE BIG BOOK OF ADVENTURE STORIES, THE BLACK LIZARD BIG BOOK OF PULPS, THE BLACK LIZARD BIG BOOK OF BLACK MASK STORIES, and now THE BIG BOOK OF GHOST STORIES. These door stoppers, over 1000 pages long, are wonderful collections. Yes, there is the occasional clunker, but Otto keeps the quality fairly high. With nearly a 100 short stories per volume, it takes me about three months to work my way through one of these massive tomes, but the entertainment and value can’t be beat.
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
BUT I’M NOT DEAD YET
Conrad Aiken: Mr. Arcularis
William Fryer Harvey: August Heat

I’LL LOVE YOU—FOREVER (OR MAYBE NOT)
Ellen Glasgow: The Shadowy Third
Ellen Glasgow: The Past
David Morrell: But At My Back I Always Hear
O. Henry: The Furnished Room
Paul Ernst: Death’s Warm Fireside
Andrew Klavan: The Advent Reunion
R. Murray Gilchrist: The Return
Rudyard Kipling: The Phantom Rickshaw
Ambrose Bierce: The Moonlit Road
Lafcadio Hearn: The Story of Ming-Y
Lafcadio Hearn: Yuki-Onna

THIS OLD HOUSE
Amyas Northcote: Brickett Bottom
E. F. Benson: How Fear Departed from the Long Gallery
G. G. Pendarves: Thing of Darkness
Edward Lucas White: The House of the Nightmare
Hector Bolitho: The House on Half Moon Street
Dick Donovan: A Night of Horror
Vincent O’sullivan: The Burned House

KIDS WILL BE KIDS
Rosemary Timperley: Harry
Michael Reaves: Make-Believe
A. M. Burrage: Playmates
Ramsey Campbell: Just Behind You
A. E. Coppard: Adam And Eve and Pinch Me
Steve Friedman: The Lost Boy of the Ozarks

THERE’S SOMETHING FUNNY AROUND HERE
Mark Twain: A Ghost’s Story
Donald E. Westlake: In At The Death
Nathaniel Hawthorne: The Ghost of Dr. Harris
“Ingulphus”: The Everlasting Club
Isaac Asimov and James Maccreigh: Legal Rites
Albert E. Cowdrey: Death Must Die
Frank Stockton: The Transferred Ghost
Oscar Wilde: The Canterville Ghost

A NEGATIVE TRAIN OF THOUGHT
August Derleth: Pacific 421
Robert Weinberg: The Midnight El

STOP—YOU’RE SCARING ME
Frederick Cowles: Punch and Judy
Henry S. Whitehead: The Fireplace
H. F. Arnold: The Night Wire 400
Fritz Leiber: Smoke Ghost 406
Wyatt Blassingame: Song of the Dead

I MUST BE DREAMING
Wilkie Collins: The Dream Woman 437
Washington Irving: The Adventure of the German Student

A SÉANCE, YOU SAY?
Joseph Shearing: They Found My Grave
Edgar Jepson: Mrs. Morrel’s Last Séance
Joyce Carol Oates: Night-Side

CLASSICS
M. R. James: “Oh, Whistle and I’ll Come To You My Lad”
W. W. Jacobs: The Monkey’s Paw
W. W. Jacobs: The Toll-House
Edith Wharton: Afterward
Willa Cather: Consequences
Cynthia Asquith: The Follower
Cynthia Asquith: The Corner Shop
H. P. Lovecraft: The Terrible Old Man
Erckmann-Chatrian: The Murderer’s Violin
Saki: The Open Window
Saki: Laura
Fitz-James O’Brien: What Was It?
Alexander Woollcott: Full Fathom Five
H. R. Wakefield: He Cometh and He Passeth By
Perceval Landon: Thurnley Abbey

THE FEMALE OF THE SPECIES
Algernon Blackwood: The Woman’s Ghost Story
Victor Rousseau: The Angel of the Marne
Olivia Howard Dunbar: The Shell of Sense
Marjorie Bowen: The Avenging of Ann Leete

BEATEN TO A PULP
Greye La Spina: The Dead-Wagon
Urann Thayer: A Soul with Two Bodies
Arthur J. Burks: The Ghosts of Steamboat Coulee
Thorp Mcclusky: The Considerate Hosts
Cyril Mand: The Fifth Candle
August Derleth and Mark Schorer: The Return of Andrew Bentley
M. L. Humphreys: The Floor Above
Manly Wade Wellman: School for the Unspeakable
A. V. Milyer: Mordecai’s Pipe
Julius Long: He Walked by Day
Dale Clark: Behind the Screen

MODERN MASTERS
M. Rickert: Journey into the Kingdom
H. R. F. Keating: Mr. Saul
Chet Williamson: Coventry Carol