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Recent Posts
- What’s New for the 16th of August: Deborah Grabien’s music criticism essays; new Americana and jazz, and some music for the Dog Days of Summer
- A Kinrowan Estate story: Midsomer Strangeness
- A Kinrowan Estate story: Contradances
- What’s New for the 26th of July: Witches in fiction, both books and film; an Americana reissue and some music on a smoky theme
- A Kinrowan Estate story: chicken pot pieces
- What’s New for the 19th of July: Charles de Lint’s Ottawa novels with a quote from Drink Down the Moon, Gary’s review of Nordic fiddle music, It’s Michele Walther and Irina Behrendt playing Aaron Copland’s ‘Hoe Down’ from his Rodeo album
- A Kinrowan Estate story: Midsomer Odd Things
- A Kinrowan Estate story: A Library and Its Librarian
- What’s New for the Fifth of July: Remembering Jane Yolen; some new Americana and jazz music; Fishing Blues
- A Kinrowan Estate Story: Recursive Loops
- What’s New for June 21: Jennifer Stevenson’s ‘Solstice’
- A Kinrowan Estate story: Turkish Coffee
- What’s New for the 7th of June: Foxes in literature, live Balkan music, comforting jazz, Americana jazz, and wonderfully weird fusion jazz; and John Fogerty live
- A Kinrowan Estate story: Bloodied Kings
- What’s New for the 24th of May: Gary’s Review of Elizabeth Bear’s White Space novels, iain’s review of the Lonely Signal Burns novellas by her, she reading her own story, ‘The Chains That You Refuse’, and I see Gary has some tasty music reviews fir us as well
- A Kinrowan Estate story: Our Greensward
- What’s New for the 10th of May: books reviewed by Jennifer Stevenson, music by Teddy Thompson, Americana music from all over, and some live music from John Fogerty
- A Kinrowan Estate story: A Walk
- What’s New for the 26th of April: the nature of Stories; some new and newish SF, plus new world, jazz, folk and Americana music
- A Kinrowan Estate story: A Spring Day
- What’s New for the 12th of April: Some new and recent SF; new Americana, Norwegian folk rock and jazz; and thoughts on War For The Oaks
- A Kinrowan Estate story: A Unified Theory of Libraries (A Letter to Anna)
- What’s New for the 29th of March: Beer and spirits, in song and text, some new Scandinavian fiddle music and jazz flute music, and more
- A Kinrowan Estate story: A Ghostly Librarian
- What’s New for the 15th of March: some DeLint stories for early spring; lots of polskas, Serbian folk rock, progressive jazz, and Nordic music from the archives
- A Kinrowan Estate story: Hedge Witches
- What’s New for the 1st of March: Emma Bull’s War for The Oaks, Rosanne Cash’s ‘Runaway Train’, Johnny Cash at San Quentin, plus new Americana and jazz music
- A Kinrorwan Estate story: Cranachanh
- What’s New for the 15th of February: Some Seanan McGuire fantasy, Alison Bechdel’s latest, Pamela Dean’s Tam Lin; Nordic sounds, old time, Americana and Tex-Mex music
- What’s New for the 1st of February: Kage Baker retrospective; new Americana, Buddhist chants and Finnish songs, new and reissued jazz, and more
Category Archives: Books
A.D. Schofield and J. Say’s Billy Pigg: The Border Minstrel
One Northumbrian musician, Billy Pigg, deserves further study. Billy Pigg played the pipes for the love of it, not for fame or fortune, and that seems to be what made him such a great success. His fiery speed and innovative … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Music
Tagged Billy Pigg, English roots music, Northumbrian music
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Lord Dunsany’s The Collected Jorkens: Volumes One, Two, and Three
Gary Turner wrote this review. Lord Dunsany was born in 1878 and died in 1957; he was born at a time when the sun never set on the British flag, trains ran at a breakneck speed of 30 mph or … Continue reading
Posted in Books
Tagged fantasy literature, Lord Dunsany
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Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling’s The Coyote Road: Trickster Tales
I may have mentioned, once or twice, that I generally avoid “theme” anthologies. This holds true more for poetry collections than short fiction, simply because my experience with the former has been overwhelmingly horrific. I’ve had to revise that stance … Continue reading
Posted in Books
Tagged contemporary fantasy, Coyote mythology, First Folk mythology
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Neil Gaiman’s The Tragical Comedy or Comical Tragedy of Mr Punch radio play
Jasmine Johnston wrote this delightful review. It is the business of mythology proper, and of the fairy tale, to reveal the specific dangers and techniques of the dark interior way from tragedy to comedy. — Joseph “everlasting” Campbell I tuned into … Continue reading
Posted in Books
Tagged BBC, Neil Gaiman, Punch and judy, raio programme
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Suraiya Faroqhi: Subjects of the Sultan: Culture and Daily Life in the Ottoman Empire
We tend to think of the Ottoman Empire as monolithic: a unitary state ruled from Istanbul and subject to a uniform system of laws. A moment’s reflection will lead to the inescapable conclusion that this couldn’t possibly be true: at … Continue reading
Posted in Books
Tagged history, nonfiction
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Suraiya Faroqhi: The Ottoman Empire and the World Around It; Handan Nezir Akmeşe: The Birth of Modern Turkey: The Ottoman Military and the March to World War I
The Ottoman Empire and its successor, modern Turkey, have time and again played an important role in European politics, and yet there are vanishingly few sources in English to bring us the viewpoint of the Turks themselves, or, indeed, to … Continue reading
Posted in Books
Tagged history, nonfiction
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J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan
This deservedly classic book was originally published in 1911 as Peter Pan and Wendy though this edition by Starscape, an imprint of Tor Books, uses the more later title that most of us know it by. On page 36 of Peter … Continue reading
Posted in Books
Tagged children's litearture, English culture, Peter Pan
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Ray Bradbury’s From The Dust Returned
In 1946 Ray Bradbury gave us “Homecoming,” and From The Dust Returned was born. More than 50 years later, the finished product consists of six previously published short stories, including “Homecoming,” which have become chapters of a larger work. These stories, plus … Continue reading
Steven Brust and Megan Lindholm’s The Gypsy
The Gypsy has been in my peripheral vision for some time, and was brought front and center by Boiled in Lead’s CD Songs from The Gypsy. I’ve sort of put off Brust’s collaborations, of which this is one, although I can see … Continue reading
Michael Brander’s Scottish & Border Battles & Ballads
Lahri Bond penned this review. Scottish & Border Battles & Ballads is a mouthful, even for a Scot, and the concept is a little vague if you are impulse-buying this book. These are not ballads about the Scottish borders and battles … Continue reading
Posted in Books
Tagged Scottish ballads, Scottish history
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