Diane and I met up with Katie and Patrick at the San Diego Airport on August 30. Patrick and Katie spent the previous weekend in Vegas for the Beyonce concert. We grabbed an Uber and arrived at the Marriott Bayside hotel a short time later. Beautiful weather! Sunny and 70s.

Here’s my BOUCHERCON 2023 summary:

THE GOOD:

Diane is a big fan of Jacqueline Winspear so we both enjoyed her performance on the panel “Historical Hard Times: Conflict in Mysteries.” Winspear was also interviewed one-on-one by Hank Phillippi Ryan in a Standing Room Only session. Diane loved hearing all her stories!

We also enjoyed Sara Paretsky on “You Can’t Kill Me–Why the PI Novel Won’t Die.” And Megan Abbott was impressive on “Hollywood and Writers–Working for TV or the Movies Plus Publishing Stories.” Martin Edwards was his usual informative self on “Agatha and Company: The Elements of Traditional Mysteries That Appeal to So Many.”

While Patrick, Katie, and Diane did some sight-seeing, I went to hear Mark Greaney talk about “Dark Villains.” After that, on a whim, I went to an overflow one-on-one interview in the Grand Ballroom with David Baldacci. I came away impressed by a smart guy who has written 54 best sellers. And, of course, there was Jeff Smith’s favorite mystery writer, Ann Cleeves!

THE BAD:

We planned a wonderful meal at a swanky restaurant with Beth Fedyn…but then we got the phone call that Beth had to go to the Emergency Room. Maggie Mason was taking care of Beth. But, at the BOUCHERCON Banquet, Maggie’s knee went out on her, and she had to leave in a wheelchair. So many heath issues!

THE UGLY:

For about the dozenth time, the BOUCHERCON folks gave me a Name Tag with “George Kelly” instead of the correct “George Kelley.” Ironically, they spelled Diane’s Name Tag correctly!

SUMMARY:

We had a great time! Wish more of you could have joined us in San Diego. We loved the restaurants especially The Huntress which featured fabulous steaks! Do you have a favorite BOUCHERCON? Check out the photo gallery below! GRADE: A

BOUCHERCON/SAN DIEGO PHOTO GALLERY:

“There is nothing that man fears more than the touch of the unknown.” (p. 312)

Elias Canetti, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1981, displays his intellectual prowess in I Want to Keep Smashing Myself Until I Am Whole. This volume captures key aspects of Canetti’s life and thought. I would say it’s the definitive introduction to a writer whose books and essays interpreted world-historical changes while being skeptical about the knowability of the Self.

Born into a Sephardi Jewish family in Bulgaria, Canetti later lived in Austria, England, and Switzerland. Canetti was drawn to politics, identity, mortality, and power. I consider Canetti’s Crowds and Power, an analysis of authoritarianism and mobs, to be one of the Great Books of the 20th Century. The events of January 6th provide a vivid demonstration of Canetti’s ideas of mob behavior in action.

I Want to Keep Smashing Myself Until I Am Whole is introduced by Pulitzer Prize winner Joshua Cohen (Book of Numbers, The Netanyahus). Cohen supplies a clear summary of Canetti’s life and thought. The selections in I Want to Keep Smashing Myself Until I Am Whole start from memories of Canetti’s polyglot childhood to his friendships and rivalries with Hermann Broch, James Joyce, Karl Kraus, Thomas Mann, and Robert Musil.

I like the aphorisms and diary entries sprinkled in this volume that reveal Canetti’s range of interests and his writing style. Canetti–reacting against Freud’s obsession with the Self–with arguments that reveal the the instability of Identity, provides one of the great critiques of Psychology. Canetti sums up his ideas on the Self with this observation: It all depends on this: with whom we confuse ourselves.

“Prophecies have lost all value ever since we entrusted them to machines; the more we chip away at ourselves, the more we place our trust in lifeless objects, the less control we have over what happens to us.” (p. 356) Canetti’s I Want to Keep Smashing Myself Until I Am Whole brings plenty of ideas to think about. GRADE: A

Table of Contents

Introduction
A Note on the Contents

Part I: Notes and Memoirs
1. From Notes from Hampstead: The Writer’s Notes, 1954–1971
2. From The Tongue Set Free, Part I: “Ruschuk, 1905–1911”
3. From Notes from Hampstead
4. From The Tongue Set Free, Part II: “Manchester, 1911–1913”

Part II: Auto-da-Fé
5. From Auto-da-Fé, Part I: “A Head Without a World”
6. From Notes from Hampstead
7. From Auto-da-Fé, Part II: “Headless World”

Part III: Memoirs and Senses
8. From The Torch in My Ear, Part II: “Storm and Compulsion” (Vienna, 1924–1925)
9. From Earwitness: Fifty Characters
10. From The Play of the Eyes, Parts III and IV: “Chance” and “Grinzing”
11. From The Voices of Marrakesh: A Record of a Visit

Part IV: Crowds and Power
12. From The Torch in My Ear, Part III: “The School of Hearing” (Vienna, 1926–1928)
13. From Crowds and Power: “The Crowd”
14. From Crowds and Power: “The Entrails of Power”
15. From Crowds and Power: “The Survivor”
16. From The Human Province, The Secret Heart of the Clock, and The Agony of Flies: Notes, 1942–1993

Part V: Death and Transformation
17. “The Profession of the Poet”
18. From Das Buch gegen Tod [The Book Against Death]

I’ve enjoyed Garth Nix’s tales of Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz (you can read my review here) so I decided to try Nix’s new series: The Left-Handed Booksellers of London (2020) and The Sinister Booksellers of Bath (2023). As you can see on the cover of The Left-Handed Booksellers of London above, the phrase “Authorized to Kill…And Sell Books” drew me in!

Susan Arkshaw has just turned 18 and before she goes off to art school, she wants to learn who her father was. Her mother, Jassmine (yes, two “s”s), seems to have a faulty memory of who Susan’s father was. So Susan goes to London to visit a family friend, “Uncle Frank (aka,Frank Thringley, Crime Boss).

Susan’s stay at Uncle Frank’s mansion is cut short by a violent incident where Susan meets Merlin. “Merlin is a young left-handed bookseller (one of the fighting ones), who with the right-handed booksellers (the intellectual ones), are an extended family of magical beings who police the mythic and legendary Old World when it intrudes on the modern world, in addition to running several bookshops.” Merlin and Susan are chased by a creepy creature called The Shuck, just one of the many magical creatures who will threaten them in this book.

Susan’s quest to find her father becomes problematic as she learns she both human and magical. And she’s going to have to tap her powers in order to survive.

The Sinister Booksellers of Bath takes place two years after the events of The Left-Handed Booksellers of London. Merlin is trapped in a magical maze in a bubble reality and Susan has to go there to draw a magic map that will bring them both back to Bath. Susan learns another magical entity is out to get her and the Booksellers of Bath might not be enough to save her. If you’re in the mood for some exciting adventures full of action and magic, give these two Garth Nix books a try! GRADE: B+ (for both)

Rod Serling’s Triple W: Witches, Warlocks and Werewolves from 1963 seems like a perfect anthology to include in the run-up to the Halloween month of October. My favorite story is Jack Sharkey’s “The Final Ingredient” where a young woman who wants to be a witch finds her spells not working…until she discovers the final ingredient.

Two classic stories, Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown” and Kipling’s “The Mark of the Beast,” show witches, warlocks and werewolves engaged writers more than a century ago.

I remember reading Fritz Leiber’s “Hatchery of Dreams” in Fantastic back in 1961 and this story has lost none of its power decades later. A coven of witches are threatened by technology. Rod Serling’s Triple W: Witches, Warlocks and Werewolves delivers entertaining stories for the spooky season. GRADE: B

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

vii · Introduction · Rod Serling · i

1 · The Amulet · Gordon R. Dickson · ss F&SF Apr 1959

17 · The Story of Sidi Nonman · Anon. · ss

27 · The Final Ingredient · Jack Sharkey · ss F&SF Aug 1960

36 · Blind Alley · Malcolm Jameson · nv Unknown Worlds Jun 1943

69 · Young Goodman Brown · Nathaniel Hawthorne · ss New England Magazine Apr 1835

82 · The Chestnut Beads [Migma] · Jane Roberts · nv F&SF Oct 1957

109 · Hatchery of Dreams · Fritz Leiber · ss Fantastic Nov 1961

122 · The Mark of the Beast · Rudyard Kipling · ss The Pioneer Jul 12 1890 (+1)

134 · And Not Quite Human · Joe L. Hensley · ss Beyond Fantasy Fiction Sep 1953

141 · Wolves Don’t Cry · Bruce Elliott · ss F&SF Apr 1954

152 · The Black Retriever · Charles G. Finney · ss F&SF Oct 1958

161 · Witch Trials and the Law · Charles Mackay · ar 1841

Here are two different perceives on the music of 1970. Rock On 1970 includes B. B. King’s classic “The Thrill is Gone.” But B. J. Thomas’s “Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head” from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid might drive some of you to annoyance. I haven’t heard Eddie Holman’s “Hey There Lonely Girl” in decades. And then there’s Brian Hyland’s iconic “Gypsy Woman.” GRADE: B

ULTIMATE SEVENTIES 1970 is the first volume of a 10-CD Time-Life set. To my ears, this CD compilation does a better job at capturing the essence of 1970 from the lava lamp on the cover to the song selection. The first two songs, CCR’s “Up Around the Bend” (now the background music to a Ford truck commercial) and Edwin Starr’s “War” remind me of 1970. Love Van Morrison’s “Domino.” I remember Three Dog Night’s “Mama Told Me (Not To Come)” being on heavy rotation in 1970 on the radio stations I listened to.

And, there are just more hits on ULTIMATE SEVENTIES 1970: Santana’s “Black Magic Woman,” James Taylor’s “Fire and Rain,” Erie Clapton’s “After Midnight,” and Smokey Robinson and The Miracle’s “Tears of a Clown.”

Do you remember these song from 53 years ago? Any favorites? GRADE: B+

TRACK LIST:

1	The Shocking Blue*–	Venus	2:58
2	Brian Hyland–	Gypsy Woman	2:33
3	B.B. King–	The Thrill Is Gone	5:25
4	Sugarloaf–	Green-Eyed Lady	3:36
5	Ray Stevens–	Everything Is Beautiful	3:27
6	B.J. Thomas–	Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head	2:56
7	Norman Greenbaum–	Spirit In The Sky	4:00
8	The Hollies–	He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother	4:14
9	Three Dog Night–	Mama Told Me (Not To Come)	3:17
10	Eddie Holman–	Hey There Lonely Girl	3:33
11	The Grass Roots–	Temptation Eyes	2:37
12	Steppenwolf–	Hey Lawdy Mama	2:54

TRACK LIST:

1	Creedence Clearwater Revival–	Up Around The Bend
2	Edwin Starr–	War
3	Van Morrison–	Domino
4	Three Dog Night–	Mama Told Me (Not To Come)
5	The Jaggerz–	The Rapper
6	The Grateful Dead–	Uncle John’s Band
7	Norman Greenbaum–	Spirit In The Sky
8	Joe Cocker–	The Letter
9	Santana–	Black Magic Woman
10	The Moments–	Love On A Two-Way Street
11	The Hollies–	He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother
12	The Jackson 5–	ABC
13	The Guess Who–	American Woman
14	Eric Clapton–	After Midnight
15	Sugarloaf–	Green-Eyed Lady
16	James Taylor –	Fire And Rain
17	Smokey Robinson And The Miracles*–	The Tears Of A Clown
18	Bee Gees–	Lonely Days
19	Blues Image–	Ride Captain Ride
20	Free–	All Right Now
21	Sly & The Family Stone–	Thank You (Falletin Me Be Mice Elf Agin)

Garth Nix, in his informative Introduction, tells the origin story of Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz. Nix, like many of us, is a fan of Fritz Leiber’s Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser series of stories of adventurers. Some of that Leiber magic shows up in these stories.

The second story, “Beyond the Sea Gate of the Scholar-Pirates of Sarskoe
–my favorite–features a female pirate and some brutal warfare. Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz travel as mercenaries in a feudal world. But their real secret mission is to protect the Earth from malicious godlets who threaten it. Mister Fitz is a puppet with sorcerous powers.

I reviewed the earlier Subterranean Press collection of Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz stories (you can read my review here. The new edition adds seven more stories to the three in the previous collection. Great stories for Summer Reading! GRADE: A

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Introduction — ix

Map: The world of Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz — xii

Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz go to war again — 1

Beyond the sea gate of the scholar-pirates of Sarsköe — 39

A suitable present for a sorcerous puppet — 81

Losing her divinity –97

A cargo of ivories — 119

Home Is the haunter — 140

A long, cold trail — 195

Cut me another quill, Mister Fitz — 231

The field of fallen foe — 261

Acknowledgements — 283

Credits — 285

Disney+ dropped the first two episodes (of eight) last week. Ahsoka is an American television miniseries created and written by Dave Filoni for Disney+. It is part of the Star Wars franchise and a spin-off from the series The Mandalorian, taking place in the same timeframe as that series and its other interconnected spin-offs after the events of Return of the Jedi (1983), while also serving as a continuation to the animated series Star Wars Rebels. The series follows Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson) as she investigates an emerging threat to the galaxy following the fall of the Empire.

Ahsoka trained with Anakin Skywalker before Anakin turned to the Dark Side. After evil Emperor Palpatine initiates Order 66 (commanding the execution of all Jedi) toward the Revenge of the Sith, Ahsoka flees to the Outer Rim and goes into hiding. Later, she joins the Rebel Alliance.

Elements of the defeated Empire hope to regenerate their cause by obtaining a star map to the location of Grand Admiral Thrawn and potentially reigning the Empire. Ahsoka and her Palawan (young Jedi in training) Natasha Liu Bordizzo as Sabine Wren move to stop the conspiracy.

I also like Mary Elizabeth Winstead as General Hera Syndulla who assists Ahsoka and Wren. If you’re a Star War fan, you’ll enjoy this series. Are you a Star Wars fan? GRADE: Incomplete but trending towards a B+

If you love poetry as much as I do, you’ll delight in Brad Leithauser’s Rhyme’s Rooms: The Architecture of Poetry (2022). Leithauser takes a deep dive into what poetry is and how it works. I learned something new on practically every page.

Leithauser discusses over 100 poets and quotes lines from about 50 poets from Gwendolyn Brooks to Shakespeare. On top of that, Leithauser quotes lyrics from Cole Porter to Lennon & McCartney. Within his analysis of the parts of poetry, Leithauser makes some unique connections; here’s an example of enjambments:

“One of the choicest enjambments I know belongs to under appreciated comic novelist Peter de Vries (1910-1993). His target is Byron’s ‘She Walks in Beauty,’ which begins

She walks in beauty, like the night

Of cloudlesss climes and starry skies;

And all that’s best of dark and bright

Meet in her aspect and her eyes…

Here is de Vries:

She walks in beauty like the night

Watchman on appointed rounds,

In the nursery, checking children’s

Winter respiratory sounds.

Oh, the modern housewife! What a fall from grace from a supernal goddess to a shuffling, overburdened mom surrounded by wheezing children, and the whole comical cascade taking place in the which space between night and Watchman.” (p. 65)

While Leithauser sometimes deals with a dozen poets per page–both known and unknown (at least to me)–his examples always clarify the point he’s trying to make. For example, Leithauser stresses the difference between prose and poetry. “I adore Anthony Trollope’s portly novels (I’ve read more books by him, I suppose, than any other author), but I enter them with some effort. After two or three chapters, I’m typically not wholly engaged, and I proceed partly out of the justified confidence that an enchanter’s spell is indeed being woven, albeit gradually. By contrast, after devoting fifteen minutes to reading Tennyson closely, I’ve undergone a speedy immersion into nineteenth-century cadences, a nineteenth-century sensibility. Recall Marilyn Monroe: Poetry saves time. Or put it another way: Poetry asks us to slow down so we may speed up. Of all literary genres, poetry is the most successful time traveler.” (p. 327)

Rhyme’s Rooms is one of the best books on poetry that I’ve ever read. GRADE: A

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Author’s Note ix

Foreword: A First Step, A First Stop xi

Chapter 1 Meeting the Funesians 3

Chapter 2 The Prosodic Contract 16

Chapter 3 Poetic Architecture 29

Chapter 4 Stanzas 42

Chapter 5 Enjambment 54

Chapter 6 Defining and Refining 67

Chapter 7 The Marriage of Meter and Rhyme (I) 81

Chapter 8 Iambic Pentameter 95

Chapter 9 Iambic Tetrameter 110

Chapter 10 Rhyme and Rhyme Decay 125

Chapter 11 Spelling and the Unexpected Rhyme 139

Chapter 12 Rhyme Poverty, Rhyme Richness 154

Chapter 13 Rhymes, and How We Really Talk 166

Chapter 14 Off Rhyme: When Good Rhymes Go Bad 178

Chapter 15 Rim Rhyme 192

Chapter 16 The Marriage of Meter and Rhyme (II) 203

Chapter 17 Wordplay and Concision 217

Chapter 18 The Look of Poetry 229

Chapter 19 Song Lyrics 244

Chapter 20 Poetry and Folly 261

Chapter 21 Dining with the Funesians 277

Chapter 22 Drinking with the Funesians 294

Chapter 23 The Essential Conservatism of Poetry 308

Chapter 24 The Essential Radicalism of Poetry 324

Glossary 343

Permissions Credits 347

Acknowledgments 349

I’ve reviewed novels by Daniel Boyd (aka, Dan Stumpf) and you can check out those posts here and here. This new novel, Aesop’s Travels, is narrated by Beefy Beaumont, proprietor of the Queen of Egypt saloon in Greenfield, located in Traill County in the State of North Dakota near the end of the 19th Century.

Beefy’s best friend, gambler Charlie Greenfield, a fixture in the saloon, finds himself charged with the murder of his brother Younger Harrow.

While Beefy works on trying to clear his friend before he’s hung from the gallows being built down the street, Beefy also has to deal with the challenges of running a business. When Beefy took over the Queen of Egypt salloon, he found an abused young boy living in a crate in the back. Beefy renames the boy Little Aesop and reads to the lad every night from Aesop’s Fables to educate him.

The resolution of Charlie’s fate is messy and leads to Beefy, Little Aesop, a gunfighter named Johnny Pesos, a guide named Dawg, and Charlie to take a dangerous journey. The wild card in the mix is Maudie Hubbard, a woman who loves Charlie while Beefy pines for her affection.

Little Aesop surprises everyone with an unexpected talent. Beefy and the group travel while killers lurk in their path. If you’re looking for a well told story with a classic Western setting and compelling characters, don’t miss Aesop’s Travels. I consider Aesop’s Travels Dan Stumpf’s best book! GRADE: A