Fritz Leiber, legendary fantasy and science fiction writer, delighted readers for decades with his stories of swords & sorcery, magic, and cats. Now, in the 21st Century, most of Leiber’s works are out-of-print. Now, Night Shade Books has published The Selected Stories of Fritz Leiber makiing some of Leiber’s best stories available for a new generation of readers. Here’s the Table of Contents:
Introduction by Neil Gaiman
Smoke Ghost
The Girl with the Hungry Eyes
Coming Attraction
A Pail of Air
A Deskful of Girls
Space Time for Springers
Ill Met in Lankhmar
Four Ghosts in Hamlet
Gonna Roll the Bones
The Inner Circles (aka The Winter Flies)
America the Beautiful
Bazaar of the Bizarre
Midnight by the Morphy Watch
Belsen Express
Catch That Zeppelin!
Horrible Imaginings
The Curse of the Smalls and the Stars
Sure, I would have chosen some other stories for inclusion, but this bunch will do for now. If you haven’t read Fritz Leiber, this is a good place to start.

This completes the April part of Carl V.’s fantasy challenge. To learn more about the fantasy challenge, click here.

Joe Pug sounds like Bob Dylan-lite. Messenger reminds me of Free-Wheeling Bob Dylan at the start of Dylan’s career. Joe Pug sings some acoustic numbers, sings a couple songs that sound like they would fit in on CMT, and ends with the song that’s my favorite, “Speak Plainly, Diana.” Clearly, Joe Pug is searching for his musical style. Some of the songs are folky, protesting, and enigmatic. No matter. Joe Pug has talent and will find his style in an album or two. Thrn he’ll find his niche. For a sample, click on PLAY below. GRADE: B

AMAZON has this 4-DVD set for an amazing price of $6.99! That’s 20 episodes of “Dirty Harry-lite” with former NFL defensive end Fred Dryer as a rogue cop. But the main attraction is Hunter’s hot partner, Detective Dee Dee McCall (aka, The Brass Cupcake), played by the fetching Stepfanie Kramer. Hunter ran from 1984 to 1991 (although Stepfanie Kramer bailed out after Season Six). I consider Season One the best of the bunch. After the first season, the network suits insisted that the violence be “toned down” a few notches. The last couple seasons are pretty bland. But, the First Season is the Real Deal. And, for the price of a new paperback, you can have hours of viewing enjoyment! GRADE: B+

EAT THIS, NOT THAT publishes an update seemingly every six months, but you can check with their web site at EatThis.com to get the latest nutritional information. The premise behind this series of books is that you can lose weight and eat healthier if you know your options. The book’s format is basically showing you the “Good” foods on one side and the “Bad” foods on the other side. For example: the “Worst Breakfast in America” goes to the Bob Evans Stacked & Stuffed Carmel Banana Pecan Hotcakes. These artery-clogging babies weigh in at 1,543 calories, 77 grams of fat, and 198 grams of carbs! This has the sugar equivalent of 7 Twinkies! And the caloric equivalent of 8 Dunkin’ Donuts glazed doughnuts! EAT THIS, NOT THAT points out healthy alternatives. For example, the Best Popcorn is Orville Redenbacher’s Natural Buttery Salt & Cracked Pepper Popcorn and the Best Dessert is Breyers All Natural Vanilla & Chocolate Ice Cream. If you eat out a lot, this book is essential! If you want to eat healthier, this is a great place to start. GRADE: A

“The title of this book is borrowed from Dostoevsky’s weirdest novel, The Demons, formerly translated as The Possessed, which narrates the descent into madness of a circle of intellectuals in a remote Russian province: a situation analogous, in certain ways, to my own experiences in graduate school.” So begins The Possessed which tells the story of Elif Batuman’s graduate school years at Stanford University. Batuman narrates the perils of academic conferences, academic politics, and academic relationships. I wanted to like this book more than I did. Yes, there are some zany parts, but it should have been MORE zany. The book meanders too often. A good editor could have cut 50 pages and made this a better book. B-

I’ve seen Gil Shaham in concert three times. Each time, Shaham captivated his audience with his style and his impeccable technique. On this latest CD, Gil Shaham and the Sejong Soloists play Haydn’s Violin Concerto No. 1 and Violin Concerto No. 4 as well as Mendelssohn’s Octet for Strings. I hadn’t heard these pieces before, but this is a CD I’ll be playing frequently. The music is engaging. Shaham says that performing the Haydn Concertos and Mendelssohn Octet with Sejong is “like playing basketball with seven Michael Jordans. It was a privilege for me, sitting there with my graying hair, to try and keep up with their artistry.” Trust me, Shaham more than keeps up with his younger accompanists. GRADE: A

I’ve been on a bit of a Robert Harris tear lately. In the past couple of weeks, I read Harris’ excellent Roman novels featuring Cicero, Imperium and Conspirata. I enjoyed those books so much, I decided to read Harris’ The Ghost which Roman Polanski’s film, The Ghost Writer is based on. The book starts out with our nameless narrator being recruited for a rush job: he has to write the autobiography of Adam Lang (an ex-Prime Minister based on Tony Blair) in a month. Once he agrees to ghosting the book, the reader is swept away to Martha’s Vineyard where Lang and his people are hunkered down. The World Court is considering trying Lang for war crimes. There are wheels within wheels as Harris’ tricky plot leads to a shocking conclusion. After reading The Ghost I can’t wait to see The Ghost Writer. The Ghost is a top-notch political thriller. Don’t miss it! GRADE: A

Most mystery readers have read some Chester Himes, probably Cotton Comes to Harlem. But there are other gems in the Coffin Ed Johnson and Grave Digger Jones saga. One of them is The Big Gold Dream which centers around a large amount of money that leads to the murder of whoever holds it. Coffin Ed and Grave Digger move around Harlem working their stool pigeons trying to get a handle on the nature of these murders as the bodies mount up. A good part of the plot centers around Sweet Prophet’s Temple of Wonderful Prayer. Himes critiques American materialism, religion, race relations, and gender roles. If you’re in the mood for a police procedural with a social consciousness, The Big Gold Dream will fulfill your need.

Beginning in 1970, Pearl London taught a course at the New School in New York City called WORKS IN PROGRESS for almost 30 years where she asked famous poets to visit the class with drafts of their new poems. This book is a series of conversations from those classes, transcripts taken from a series of previously unknown recordings found after London’s death and edited by Neubauer. And who showed up at these classes? Maxine Kumin, Robert Hass, Muriel Rukeyser, Philip Levine, Louise Gluck, June Jordan, James Merrill, Marilyn Hacker, Galway Kinnell, Derek Walcott, Amy Clampitt, Lucille Clifton, Stanley Plumly, C. K. Williams, Molly Peacock, Robert Pinsky, Edward Hirsch, Frank Bidart, William Matthews, Paul Muldoon, Li-Young Lee, Charles Simic, and Eamon Grennan. Pearl London asks insightful questions of these poets to tease out the secrets of writing great poetry. If you’re interested in the creative process and how artists achieve their effects, Poetry in Person reveals some of their special secrets. GRADE: A

If you like Steve Carell and Tina Fey, you’ll like Date Night. Carell and Fey play a married couple mired in tedium. They decide to break out of their mundane existence by going to an exclusive Manhattan restaurant for dinner. However, they find that without a reservation, their hopes of being seated are about zilch. Fate enters the picture at this moment as the hostess calls for “The Triplehorns” and no one responds. Steve Carell finally speaks up and says, “We are the Triplehorns.” Carell and Fey get seated, have a wonderful meal, drink too much, and find themselves accosted by two toughs who are looking for the Triplehorns and a zip-drive full of revealing photos. From this moment on, the movie becomes a screwball comedy with chase scenes and random violence, plenty of shooting and silly plot devices. It’s an entertaining choice for your own date night. GRADE: B