Those of you of a certain age will remember The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh series on Walt Disney’s Wide World of Color in 1964. Patrick McGoohan played both the meek pastor, Dr. Syn, and by night, The Scarecrow, a smuggler with Robin Hood tendencies who donated all his smuggling profits to the poor people of his community. Disney based their series on Russell Thorndike’s adventure novels. I’ve read them all and enjoyed them all. The books have been reprinted many times and should be relatively easy to come by. If you enjoy classic adventure fiction, the Dr. Syn series delivers.

Doctor Syn: A Tale of the Romney Marsh (1915)
Doctor Syn on the High Seas (1935)
Doctor Syn Returns (1936)
Further Adventures of Doctor Syn (1936)
Courageous Exploits of Doctor Syn (1938)
Amazing Quest of Doctor Syn (1939)
Shadow of Doctor Syn (1944)
An expanded version of Doctor Syn Returns titled The Scarecrow Rides was published by The Dial Press in 1935.

I’ve been a fan of Loreena McKennitt’s brand of World music for decades so factor that into this review. This new 2-CD collection features one disk of “retrospective” music from McKennitt’s previous CDs, The Mask and the Mirror, An Ancient Muse, The Book of Secrets, and The Visit. Consider it a Greatest Hits of Loreena McKennitt collection. The second CD is a series of live performances that sound fabulous. Loreena McKennitt’s clear, lilting voice never fails to delight me. If you haven’t listened to Loreena McKennitt, this is the perfect place to start. GRADE: A
Disc: 1
1. Mystic Dream
2. Tango to Evora
3. Gates of Istanbul
4. Penelope’s Song
5. Marco Polo
6. Marrakesh Night Market
7. Santiago
8. Caravanserai
9. Dark Night of the Soul
10. Sacred Shabbat
11. Mummer’s Dance [Single Version]
Disc: 2
1. Gates of Istanbul
2. Dark Night of the Soul
3. Marco Polo
4. Penelope’s Song
5. Sacred Shabbat
6. Caravanserai
7. Santiago
8. Beneath a Phyrgian Sky
9. Tango to Evora
10. Full Circle

We’re down to the Final Four in Top Chef: Jen, Kevin, Michael, and Bryan. I consider Jen as the weakest chef, but funny things happen on Top Chef. I’m guessing Jen finds a way to make it into next week’s Finale. Kevin is the best chef. He’s been strong since Episode One. He’ll make the Finale. So now it’s down to the Voltaggio brothers: Michael and Bryan. One of them will be sent home tonight. My guess is that it will be Michael, the younger brother. Michael can be snarky. He said, “I cook like Kevin on my day off.” Not nice. I’m predicting that Padma will say, “Michael, please pack your knives and go.”

Blu-ray movies, in the high-definition DVD format, currently cost around $25 when regular DVDs cost half of that. All that is about to change. The recession has hurt DVD sales, but it hurt the premium Blu-ray sales most. Tons of movies and TV shows on Blu-ray disks are languishing in warehouses. The Powers That Be have decided that after Christmas, the prices of many Blu-Ray disks will be lowered to $10! If you’ve seen Blu-ray movies, you know that the high-def detail is amazing. The factors that held me back from buying a Blu-ray player were the outrageous prices for Blu-ray DVDs and the high prices of the players. Now that the pricing will be affordable and the player prices have come down (Wal-Mart is selling a Blu-ray player for $79), I’ll be buying a Blu-ray player soon. I have an LG Blu-ray player pictured above, but I’m not recommending any particular brand right now. I’ll do more research and check some Blu-ray players out before I buy. But, I’ll let you know which brand I’ll be buying during the after Christmas sales as soon as I make a decision. You should think about buying a Blu-ray player, too!

I own all of Enya’s CDs so you would think I wouldn’t be in the market for this new collection. But you would be wrong. I can’t think of a better stocking stuffer than an Enya CD. Her ethereal music and distinctive voice are magical. Most people I know don’t have all of Enya’s CDs (but probably wish they had) so this new VERY BEST OF ENYA makes holiday giving easy. I’ll probably buy a dozen copies to gift to friends and relatives.
Track Listings:
1. Orinoco Flow
2. Aniron
3. Storms in Africa
4. Caribbean Blue
5. Book of Days
6. The Celts
7. Only Time
8. Wild Child
9. Water Shows The Hidden Heart
10. Anywhere Is
11. Cursum Perficio
12. Amarantine
13. Aldebaran
14. Trains and Winter Rains
15. Watermark
16. Boadicea
17. A Day Without Rain
18. May It Be
19. Oiche Chiun

Concluding the Jimmy Paz trilogy is Night of the Jaguar. A shaman from South America makes the journey to Miami to stop a company who plans to destroy his forest habitat. By chance, the shaman links up with an environmentalist group. Suddenly, the executives in charge of the company that plans the deforestation start dying. Their corpses look like a 400 lb. jaguar had ripped them apart. Once again Jimmy Paz investigates an other-worldly series of crimes. Michael Gruber’s trilogy revels in originality and kooky plotting. If you’re looking for novels that are unique and unusual, try reading Tropic of Night, Valley of Bones, and Night of the Jaguar. This is the most memorable trilogy I’ve read in recent years. GRADE: B+

Michael Gruber’s second book in his Jimmy Paz trilogy contains one of the most harrowing journals I’ve ever read. A woman named Emmylou Dideroff is accused of murder, but Detective Jimmy Paz thinks something is wrong with her story. Emmylou asks to write her confession and she fills three notebooks with her incredible story of sexual abuse, survivalist plots, and African politics. The novel ends with an explosive ending that left me drained. Valley of Bones reminds me of a roller-coaster ride with its change of pace from slow to fast, from up to down. GRADE: A-

Michael Gruber’s trilogy featuring Jimmy Paz, Miami police detective, confounded me. I’d never read a review of the books and no one in my circle of mystery reading friends had ever mentioned it. I came to read this series because one of my favorite reviewers, Robert Birnbaum, recommended it. You can find out more about Robert Birnbaum and his excellent reviews at http://www.themorningnews.org/archives/people/robert_birnbaum.php. This series is about as far as you can get from a police procedural although Gruber uses that template. There’s a series of grisly murders: pregnant women killed, their fetuses cut from them, and portions of the fetuses removed. Paz finally figures out the perpetrator is using African sorcery to help him commit his crimes. So, at this point, we leave the realm of mystery/crime fiction and enter the science fiction/fantasy realm by way of H. P. Lovecraft and Robert Bloch. It’s disconcerting, but if you stay with it you’ll find some incredible writing and story-telling. Tropic of Night still lingers in my mind weeks after I’ve read it. GRADE: B+

Terrific science fiction artwork fills this wonderful volume. The great artists are all represented here: Wayne Barlowe, Hannes Bok, Chesley Bonstell, Vincent Di Fate, Leo & Diane Dillon, Ed Emshwiller, Virgil Finley, Chris Foss, Frank Frazetta, Kelly Freas, Jack Gaughan, and dozens of others. My only quibble is that the author tries to do too much. There’s a section on Star Trek artwork. There’s a section on Star Wars artwork. There’s a section on science fiction comic artwork. I would have rather seen more artwork by Wally Wood and Roy Krenkel instead. But that minor complaint aside, what’s here represents a cross-section of the best science fiction artwork ever published. That’s worth buying. GRADE: A-