Around this time of year I pull out my copy of The Edgar Allan Poe Audio Collection (2000) and enjoy some classic Poe stories. This set provides 6 hours of spooky stories narrated by two of the best chilling voices ever. Here are my favorites:

Vincent Price performs “The Gold Bug,” “The Imp of the Perverse,” and “Ligeia.”

Basil Rathbone performs “The Tell-Tale Heart,” “The Pit and the Pendulum,” and “The Raven.”

If you want to get into the Halloween mood, these stories will take you there! Are you an Edgar Allan Poe fan? GRADE: A

TRACK LIST:

In his “Author’s Afterword” Robert Bloch mentions his 69 stories published by Weird Tales. Bloch’s also asserts that he’s not just a “weird fiction” writer, he’s a specialist in “psychological suspense.” Actually, Bloch’s work blends the two elements. Take “The Weird Tailor” where a talented but cruel tailor takes on the task of making a custom suit made of unique material. Tension builds as the special suit displays strange characteristics. The startling conclusion reminds me of Bloch’s final scenes of Psycho.

My favorite story in Such Stuff as Scream Are Made Of is “Talent” which celebrates Bloch’s love of fantasy films. “I Do Not Love Thee, Dr. Fell” defines Bloch’s approach to psychological suspense.

In his “Introduction,” Gahan Wilson places Robert Bloch in the league of other Weird Tales writers like H. P. Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard, and Clark Ashton Smith. High praise, indeed…and deserving of it based on the quality of the stories in Such Stuff as Scream Are Made Of . Are you a Robert Bloch fan? GRADE: A

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

• ix • Introduction (Such Stuff as Screams Are Made Of) • essay by Gahan Wilson
• 1 • The Tunnel of Love • (1948) • short story by Robert Bloch
• 11 • The Unspeakable Betrothal • (1949) • short story by Robert Bloch
• 26 • The Girl from Mars • (1950) • short story by Robert Bloch
• 34 • The Head Hunter • (1950) • short story by Robert Bloch (variant of Head Man)
• 52 • The Weird Tailor • (1950) • novelette by Robert Bloch
• 74 • Lucy Comes to Stay • (1952) • short story by Robert Bloch
• 81 • The Pin • (1953) • short story by Robert Bloch
• 96 • I Do Not Love Thee, Doctor Fell • (1955) • short story by Robert Bloch
• 107 • Luck Is No Lady • (1957) • short story by Robert Bloch
• 124 • The Cure • (1957) • short story by Robert Bloch
• 132 • The Screaming People • (1959) • novelette by Robert Bloch
• 171 • The Big Kick • (1959) • short story by Robert Bloch
• 181 • The Masterpiece • (1960) • short story by Robert Bloch
• 186 • Talent • (1960) • short story by Robert Bloch
• 200 • The Final Performance • (1960) • short story by Robert Bloch
• 214 • Life in Our Time • (1966) • short story by Robert Bloch
• 223 • Underground • (1967) • short story by Robert Bloch
• 230 • A Case of the Stubborns • (1976) • short story by Robert Bloch
• 248 • The Head • (1976) • short story by Robert Bloch
• 257 • What You See Is What You Get • (1977) • short story by Robert Bloch
• 273 • Nina • (1977) • short story by Robert Bloch
• 284 • Author’s Afterword (Such Stuff as Screams Are Made Of) • essay by Robert Bloch

Back in 1993, Disney released a movie that was atypical for their movie unit. Hocus Pocus, starring Bette Midler as Winifred Sanderson, Sarah Jessica Parker as Sarah Sanderson, and Kathy Nijimy as Mary Sanderson, feature a coven of witches who become resurrected after 300 years and vow to take vengeance on Salem for hanging them.

It took almost 30 years for Disney to produce a sequel to this popular movie. Midler, Parker, and Nijimy return to reprise their roles as the Sanderson Sisters, witches who specialize in Black Magic.

A trio of teenagers stand between the Sanderson Sisters and unstoppable Magic. My favorite moment in the film involved Siri and the Sanderson sisters. If you’re looking for a light, silly Halloween movie, Hocus Pocus 2 fits the bill. Do you have a favorite Halloween movie? GRADE: B

In 1930, the great economist John Maynard Keynes delivered a speech he called “Economic Possibilities for Our Grandchildren.” Keynes concluded economic problems were not humanity’s most “permanent problem,” but instead speculated that once our economic problems were solved, the real difficulty would be “how to use..freedom from pressing economic cares…to live wisely and agreeably and well.” (p. 519-520)

J. Bradford Delong’s Slouching Toward Utopia: An Economic History of the Twentieth Century (2022) captures the turbulence of the past century with its World Wars and seemingly unceasing violence. Delong starts with 1870 as the point where industrialization and technology began to transform economies. One of the main reasons for the massive changes was ideology.

“Macbeth’s self-justifications were feeble. …Iago was a little lamb… The imagination and spiritual strength of Shakespeare’s evildoers stopped short at a dozen corpses. Because they had no ideology. Ideology–that is what gives evildoing its long-sought justification and gives the evildoer the necessary steadfastness and determination. That is the social theory which helps to make his acts seem good instead of bad in his own and others’ eyes, so that he won’t hear reproaches and curses but will receive praise and honors. …Thanks to ideology, the twentieth century was fated to experience evildoing on a scale calculated in the millions. This can’t be denied, not passed over, nor suppressed. ” (p. 259)

Stalin murdered over 50 million Russians during his time in power. Hitler’s death count also numbers in the millions. Stalin and the communists offered a Marxist vision of Utopia. Hitler promised a “Thousand-Year Reich” with Germany ruling the world. Economics played key role in both horrors.

Right now, the world is dealing with rampant Inflation and energy shortages. The Pandemic caused much of the Inflation and the Ukraine War caused much of the energy problems. Both persist so we can expect Inflation and high energy prices to continue. How are you dealing with Inflation? Our gas prices are $3.65, but are expected to go up as the Saudis cut their oil production by 2 million barrels per day. Are you driving more or less? GRADE: A

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Introduction: My Grand Narrative 1

1 Globalizing the World 27

2 Revving Up the Engine of Technology-Driven Growth 59

3 Democratizing the Global North 85

4 Global Empires 115

5 World War I 141

6 Roaring Twenties 165

7 The Great Depression 205

8 Really-Existing Socialism 235

9 Fascism and Nazism 259

10 World War II 283

11 The Cold War of Hostile Yet Coexisting Systems 311

12 False (and True) Starts to Economic Development in the Global South 339

13 Inclusion 373

14 Thirty Glorious Years of Social Democracy 395

15 The Neoliberal Turn 427

16 Reglobalizatlon, Information Technology, and Hyperglobalization 461

17 Great Recession and Anemic Recovery 485

Conclusion: Are We Still Slouching Towards Utopia? 519

Acknowledgments 537

Notes 539

Index 579

The 4-1 Buffalo Bills are favored over the 4-1 Kansas City Chiefs by 2 1/2 points. How will your favorite NFL team perform today?

I can barely keep up with Charles Stross and his productivity. Recently, not one but two new Stross novels were published by TOR Books. The first, Escape From Yokai Land, features Bob Howard who is a key figure in Britain’s super-secret agency, The Laundry. The Laundry fights threats of the H. P. Lovecraft variety. In this adventure, Bob is sent to Japan to work with the Miyamoto Group to inspect the wards that lock down sites of danger. In this case, the yokai–traditional magical beings who can be mischievous and bizarre–break free and Bob faces a confrontation with a massively powerful pink yokai. GRADE: B

Charles Stross enjoys taking a break from the Laundry Files story arc to write books like Quantum of Nightmares set in the Laundry universe where magic is common…and deadly. Britain is ruled by a Prime Minister who is secretly an ancient Eldritch god with incredible powers.

Eve Starkey, head of a massive company–the Bigge Organzation–plans to enhance her powers. But Eve’s bohemian brother, Imp, and his crew of transhuman misfits have other ideas.

My favorite character is Mary MacCandless who uses her powers to babysit a group of magical children. Quantum of Nightmares is a wacky, wild screwball fantasy novel with plenty of laughs…and mayhem. GRADE: B+

E. C. R. Lorac was the pseudonym of Edith Caroline Rivett. The Lorac mysteries feature cunning plots and off-beat characters. Lorac’s Checkmate to Murder, published in 1944, possesses a war-time shroud over the murder of a local miser and the theft of his gold. The suspects are a civil servant and a government scientist who were playing chess next door to the miser’s house as an artist–occasionally watching the game–works on a portrait of an actor in the robes of a Cardinal. In the kitchen, the artist’s sister cooks and occasionally looks in on the men.

Inspector Macdonald of Scotland Yard investigates the murder but isn’t sure the Prime Suspect, the miser’s nephew who found the body, is the murderer. Unraveling the truth and solving the crime display all of Lorac’s talents at deception and distraction. Like a chess match, Lorac enters a battle of wits with the reader.

Martin Edwards’s excellent Introduction puts E. C. R. Lorac and her mysteries into perspective. GRADE: B+

This tribute album is dedicated to the memory of Rick Hall (1932-2018) the father of the Muscle Shoals Sound, and all of the great Singers, Songwriters, Musicians Engineers, Producers and Administrators who have helped continue the Muscle Shoals Sound over the years.

Various singers perform some of the iconic songs recorded at Muscle Shoals in 1960s and 1970s. There’s country (a lovely version of Gregg Allman’s “Come and Go Blues,” by Alison Krauss), blues (Grace Potter giving it her best shot on Etta James’s “I’d Rather Go Blind”), gospel (“Respect Yourself”–a natural for Mike Farris and The Blind Boys of Alabama), and soul (Eli “Paperboy” Reed’s very slow rendition of the great “Steal Away”).

And, of course, there are some misses like Kid Rock’s “Snatching It Back”–a far cry from Clarence Carter’s classic. And Aloe Blacc doesn’t come close to The Staple Singers version of “I’ll Take You There.”

I highly recommend the documentary about Muscle Shoals (you can read my review here).

All in all, Muscle Shoals: Small Town Big Sound is a mixed bag celebrating one of the great recording studios in America. Do you remember these songs? Do you have a favorite song that was recorded at Muscle Shoals? GRADE: B

TRACK LIST:

Just in time for Halloween, I found this 1994 vampire anthology, Love in Vein. Most of the stories feature a vampire (or two) although some writers throw in other creatures like ghouls.

My favorite story in Love in Vein is Charles de Lint’s “In This Soul of a Woman.” Nita, an “exotic dancer” in a night club, finds herself approached by a woman who calls herself Imogen. Imogen has an odd request for Nita…a matter of Life or Death.

I also liked Thomas F. Monteleone’s “Triptych di Amore” where a vampire drains geniuses like Mozart until she finds herself exposed and neutralized…until World War II. I also liked Gene Wolfe’s “Queen of the Night” but felt like it was a fragment from a much longer and involving story.

Are you a fan of vampire stories? GRADE: B

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Introduction / Poppy Z. Bright — vii

• Do not hasten to bid me adieu / Norman Partridge — 1
• Geraldine / Ian McDowell — 25
• In the greenhouse / Kathe Koja and Barry N. Malzberg — 55
• Cafe endless: Spring rain / Nancy Holder — 63
• Empty vessels / David B. Silva — 79
• The final fete of Abba Adi / Jessica Amanda Salmonson — 101
• Cherry / Christa Faust — 121
• White chapel / Douglas Clegg — 137
• Delicious antique whore / Wilum H. Pugmire — 169
• Tiptych di Amore / Thomas F. Monteleone — 173
• Queen of the night / Gene Wolfe — 209
• The marriage / Steve Rasnic Tem and Melanie Tem — 227
• In this soul of a woman / Charles de Lint — 237
• The alchemy of the throat / Brian Hodge — 259
• Love me forever / Mike Baker — 289
• And the horses hiss at midnight / A.R. Morlan — 309
• Elixir / Elizabeth Engstrom — 319
• The gift of Neptune / Danielle Willis — 337
• From hunger / Wayne Allen Sallee — 345
• A slow red whisper of sand / Robert Devereaux — 363

Nice Work If You Can Get It, a screw-ball musical “inspired by P. G. Wodehouse and Guy Bolton” set in the Prohibition Era, blends romantic entanglements and great Gershwin music.

Renee Landrigan, a local actor who will remind you of Carole Lombard, plays bootlegger Billie Bendix. Marc Sacco plays a Bertie Wooster clone, Jimmy Winter, who is about to get married for the fourth time. Meanwhile, the local police and the Feds are surrounding the Long Island beach house where all the shenanigans take place, looking for 400 cases of illegal gin.

The silly plot serves to provide two dozen musical numbers, comedic riffs, and plenty of tap dancing around the stage. The sold out theater audience enjoyed the laughs, music, and frivolity Nice Work If You Can Get It served up with zest and fun! Are you a Gershwin fan? How many of these Gershwin songs do you remember. GRADE: B+