Since “Weird” has become the adjective of the moment thanks to Trump and J.D. Vance, I thought I’d review this book from 2023 that explores the weirdness of 21st Century fiction.

In order to execute that exploration, Kate Marshall, an associate professor at the University of Notre Dame, delves into weird fiction from the past. Her analysis of Edgar Allan Poe’s The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket (1838) made me want to reread that classic (I’m searching the shelves for it today). Marshall also tackles one of the weirdest books I’ve ever read, Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian (1985), where someone is killed on almost every page. Then she grabbles with that classic, iconic magazine, Weird Tales (1923-1954).

Once you get past Chapter 1–The Old Weird–Marshall starts her tour of 21st Century weird fiction. Some of the titles, like Matt Ruff’s Lovecraft Country (2016), are very familiar to me (you can read my reviews here and here) I’m a big fan of the novel and the short TV series. I’m also familiar with Victor LaValle’s The Ballad of Black Tom (2016) (you can read my review here). Other weird novels that I’ve heard of–but haven’t read–include Colson Whitehead’s Zone One (2011) and Ali Smith’s Autumn, Winter, Spring, and Summer (2018).

In Chapter 6–After Extinction–I wanted to drop everything and read Neal Stephenson’s Seveneves (2015). Stephenson, known for his Big Thinking, sets Earth on fire with a comet storm. Marshall also dives into Jeff VanderMeer’s Southern Reach Trilogy and Jeff and Ann VanderMeer’s The New Weird (2008) anthology.

Novels by Aliens is a brief but fascinating journey into weird fiction, both old and new. I completely enjoyed it and I think many of you might enjoy it, too. GRADE: A

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Introduction: Dispatches from the Extinguished World — 1
1 The Old Weird — 27
2 Cowboys and Aliens — 49
3 Cosmic Realism — 74
4 The Novel in Geological Time — 100
5 Pseudoscience Fictions — 121
6 After Extinction — 142
Acknowledgments — 167
Notes — 171
Works Cited — 195
Index — 207

I’ve watched all 10 Batman animated series over the years (you can view the list here). So when I heard about Batman: Caped Crusader I considered not watching it. But I read some reviews and the fact that Batman: Caped Crusader was aimed at a more mature audience than those other animated series intrigued me.

I was also interested in the setting of the series: the 1930s. No computers, no high-tech, no cell phones. Batman: Caped Crusader is a stripped down, high production values series with a keen sense of the classic Batman. This 10-episode series starts out with the Penguin in the first episode and we also meet an early incarnation of Harvey Dent, the young aggressive District Attorney.

The Rotten Tomatoes scores are Tomatometer 98% and Audience 67%. I’ve only watched two episodes, but I like the retro vibe. Are you a Batman fan? GRADE: Incomplete but trending towards a B+

The first two pages of Shakedown For Murder describes a murder in chilling detail. Dr. Edward Barnes is murdered while making a house call. At the end of that step-by-step execution, I thought…this is the Perfect Murder!

But, no. Ed Lacy introduces an unlikely detective in NYPD cop, Matt Lund. Matt Lund, a reluctant traveler, takes a one-week vacation in a Long Island coastal town called End Harbor. Lund’s plan was to visit his adult son Dan and his wife Bessie, and there a young son named Andy. And have some fun.

Just by chance Lund and Andy visit the murder site. Lund pisses off the Chief of Police, who thinks the death of Dr. Barnes is an accident. Lund shows him why the death of Dr. Barnes is a murder. But when Bessie’s good friend, Jerry, who drives the town’s taxi, is charged with the Barnes murder, Lund launches his own investigation.

Shakedown for Murder dissects small town life and all the secrets hidden in the shadows. Lund is a clumsy investigator, but he uncovers clues and information that escaped the local police. Lacy presents a sociological picture of small town life in the 1950s along with the hidden dangers. Shakedown for Murder is a classic paperback original from that era. GRADE: A

Breathe No More My Lady is a very different type of story. Yes, there is a crime to be solved, but the focus for most of the novel is on Ed Lacy satirizing both the 1950s publishing industry and common misconceptions about what popular writers are really like.

When a best-selling writer is arrested and charged with murdering his wife, the publishing executives have some hard decisions. They could continue to promote the writer which could cause publicity problems, but that decision could bring in plenty of sales given the notoriety of the case. My favorite character is Norm Conner, a scheming publishing executive, without morals and obsessed by marketing. For a devastating picture of publishing in the 1950s with all its greed and deception, Breathe No More My Lady captures the chicanery and the deadly maneuvers of that time. GRADE: B

In his excellent introduction to this new Stark House omnibus, Cullen Gallagher notes that 1958 was a big year for Ed Lacy (aka, Leonard Zinberg). Not only did Lacy win the Edgar, he published two more novels: Breathe No More My Lady and Shake Down for Murder. Both novels have be out-of-print for years. This wonderful Stark House omnibus brings back two of the better paperback originals from the 1950s and a brilliant essay by Gallagher on Ed Lacy’s life and work.

I’ve been an Ed Lacy fan since I first read Room to Swing, the Edgar Award–winning 1958 novel (you can read my review here). Lacy is truly an underrated writer who deserves more readers!

For the past week or so, I’ve been listening to “BEST OF” CDS. One that stood out to me is ALL FIRED UP: The Very Best of Pat Benatar (1994). This 2-CD set collects most of Pat Benatar’s hits and more obscure songs.

There’s the politically incorrect “Hit Me With Your Best Shot,” the moody “Shadows of the Night,” and the rock anthem, “Love is a Battlefield.”

Are you a Pat Benatar fan? Any favorite songs here? GRADE: A

TRACK LIST:

During the 1960s, I read many stories by Hayden Howard (aka, John Hayden Howard). Howard had 73 stories published and a Science Fiction novel, The Eskimo Invasion, was nominated for the 1968 Nebula Award for Best Novel. The novel is based on “Arctic Invasion”–included in this collection–and the short story “Arctic Invasion” was nominated for the 1967 Hugo Award for Best Novelette and the 1967 Nebula Award for Best Novelette.

Hayden Howard wrote a variety of stories in different styles with different themes. He explores the life-altering choices and dark surprises that confront a professor in “The Tragedy of Henry Diddoh.”

Hayden Howard blends a 1940s prize-fighter and time-traveler in “Ten Rounds for the All-Time Champ.” The dangers of becoming too reliant on narrow rules show up in “We Specialists.”

A Canadian Arctic researcher is baffled by the bizarre villagers in “Arctic Invasion.” Hayden Howard could write classic SF action stories, too. I loved the wild anti-gravity battle in space between rival spaceship crews in “Mutiny in the Orbit of Uranus.”

Hayden Howard’s fine stories have been pretty much forgotten, but this wonderful collection may attract a whole new audience. GRADE: B+

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Foreword By Laurie Winslow Sargent — 11

PART 1: WHAT IF — 17

The Tragedy of Henry Diddoh — 19

Ten Rounds From the All-Time Champ — 45

We Specialists — 60

PART 2: STRANGE ENCOUNTERS ON EARTH — 65

Gremmie’s Reef — 67

The Butcher — 86

Arctic Invasion — 95

PART 3: INTERPLANETARY TALES — 127

Haranu –129

Mutiny in the Orbit of Uranus — 146

AFTERWORD: HIDDEN FACTS ABOUT HAYDEN — 174

For fans of the 1981 movie Time Bandits, this new AppleTV+ version of 10 EPISODES makes a lot of changes in the plot, characters, and themes.

“[This TV version of Time Bandits] comes from three collaborators on the delightful FX vampire comedy series What We Do In The Shadows – -Jemaine Clement, Taika Waititi, and Iain Morris. That series too was adapted from a cult movie, and this team really knows what it’s doing. Each of them contributes as writers on the TV version. Clement and Morris are showrunners, and Clement and Waititi not only direct a few episodes, but appear in them too, playing the respective embodiments of good and evil. The major change this time is in the casting of the team of misfit marauders known as the time bandits themselves. In the new TV version, they are no longer played by dwarfs. This already has proven a bit controversial. Some have accused the producers of taking away roles for little people or erasing a key ingredient of the original narrative. Later in the series, though, new roles emerge as little people are featured as a sort of celestial detective squad, and the new Time Bandits makes its change very easy to access.”

After just two episodes, I’m hooked on this tale of a band of scruffy bandits traveling through Time to steal stuff. A young kid, Kevin, obsessive about History, joins their group by chance and together they visit the Battle for Troy and explore the Mayan pyramids. My favorite character is Lisa Kudrow (from Friends) who plays Penelope, the de-facto leader of bandits. If you’re looking for a fun, quirky Summer TV series, give Time Bandits a try. GRADE: Incomplete, but trending towards a B+

“My first year of college, I attempted suicide and was promptly hastened home by an ominously smiling administrator.” (p. 98)

“…I first navigated to Rachel’s profile, knowing that she was the person for whom Adam had left me.” (p. 139).

Becca Rothfeld doesn’t hold anything back in her collection of essays, All Things Are Too Small (2024). She writes about her suicide attempt, she writes about her online stalking the woman who Adam left her for.

And then there’s sex. “Most sex is mediocre, and the measure of its mediocrity is that it leaves us unaffected.” (p. 75). Rothfeld ruminates on relationships, marriage, infidelity, and pornography.

Yet, my favorite chapter in All Things Are Too Small is “Murder on the Installment Plan,” a deep dive into Rothfeld’s interest in murder. She starts the chapter with Hannibal Lecter and moves on to Poe and “The Murders in the Rue Morgue.” She defends Wilkie Collins from T. S. Eliot’s criticisms. Rothfeld likes W. H. Auden’s “A Guilty Vicarage.” She quibbles with S. S. Van Dine’s “Twenty Rules for Writing Detective Stories.” But her greatest admiration is for Raymond Chandler’s “The Simple Art of Murder” (1950). “Chandler’s novels are among my favorites, but I recall almost nothing about their plots.” (p. 95)

I came away from All Things Are Too Small with a sense that Becca Rothfeld is a very complicated person who needs to consider cutting back on her excesses. GRADE: B–

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

All things are too small — 1

More is more — 12

Ladies in waiting — 41

The flesh, it makes you crazy — 56

Murder on the installment plan — 82

Wherever you go, you could leave — 98

Other people’s loves — 139

Having a cake and eating it, too — 151

Only mercy : sex after consent — 168

Normal novels — 228

Two lives, simultaneous and perfect — 241

Our true entertainment was arguing — 253

Acknowledgements — 283

Bill Crider would have been 82 years old today. But, sadly, he died in 2018. I think of Bill frequently and wish I could still email him about books, politics, and movies.

Bill Crider and I were both college professors so we completely related to the problems and trials and successes of the classroom. We emailed each other daily. And, we were both passionate collectors of paperback books. Bill had TWO storage units for his collection, I have a basement full of thousands of books. Bill encouraged me to start a blog and at Christmas 2008, Patrick set up my blog. But my blog, with its single post per day, was nowhere near Bill’s blog with as many as a dozen posts per day! Bill’s blog was funny and lively and reflected his amiable character.

I miss Bill. A lot…

In her review of Deadpool & Wolverine movie critic Katie Walsh writes: “Plot? Nonsensical. Characters? Thin. Motivation? Eh. But get a load of these cameos!” Yes, Deadpool & Wolverine is full of other Marvel Cinematic Universe characters popping up all through the movie. Kyle Smith of the Wall Street Journal wrote “…meta-jokes in Deadpool & Wolverine are for the most part very funny, but they’re also pretty much all the movie has to offer. After a while it feels like a series of fan-service sketches with a parade of guest stars.”

My favorite character in Deadpool & Wolverine is the beautiful, powerful Cassandra Nova (Emma Corrin) who wants to totally wreck all Universes. And, she has might to do it. But Deadpool and Wolverine are too busy fighting each other or generating piles of bodies of Bad Guys who are dumb enough to take them on to pay Cassandra much attention. When not fighting, Deadpool is cracking his snarky jokes and Wolverine is growling.

Kyle Smith also points out a glaring weakness with Deadpool & Wolverine: “Disconcertingly long stretches of the movie are devoted to explaining [the plot] in a script by Mr. Reynolds, Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick, Zeb, and the film’s director, Shawn Levy, that at times seems like an operating manual for heavy machinery.”

Since Deadpool & Wolverine is the only Marvel movie of the Summer of 2024, beggars can’t be choosers. Diane and I found Deadpool & Wolverine mildly entertaining. The streak of weak and silly MCU movies continues. GRADE: B–