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Recent Posts
- A Kinrowan Estate story: puppeteers, and their puppets
- 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
Category Archives: Books
Nina Shandler’s The Strange Case of Hellish Nell: The Story of Helen Duncan and the Witch Trial of World War II
Liz Milner wrote this review. The Strange Case of Hellish Nell is a fascinating true-life tale of the supernatural. Even Nina Shandler’s hackneyed prose cannot diminish my enthusiasm for this story. In 1944, when the Blitz was at its height, a … Continue reading
Posted in Books
Tagged English history, witchcraft, World War Two
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Joan Huff and Marian Yeates’ The Cooper’s Wife is Missing
John O’Regan wrote this review. The term ‘Witch Burning’, generally speaking, is one that recalls a method of torture used to rid the local area of a person with an evil spirit, or one who is guided by bad influences … Continue reading
Posted in Books
Tagged Ireland, Irish folklore, Irish history, witchcraft
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Alan Davison’s The Pleasures of English Food
This is yet another in Penguin UK’s English Journeys series which I swear runs into the dozens of slim volumes covering every aspect of what I’ll term pastoral England — architecture, bits country gardens, country houses, country lore, food, music.. Well … Continue reading
Posted in Books
Tagged culinary history, England
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Steven Brust and Emma Bull’s Freedom & Necessity
Let’s face it, much modern fantasy is duller than dirt these days. That’s not a reflection on the technical level of the work (which, in many cases, is higher than it has ever been) but rather a sad commentary on … Continue reading
Posted in Books
Tagged English history, fantasy
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Josepha Sherman and T.K.F. Weisskopf’s Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts: The Subversive Folklore of Childhood
Pamela Murray Winters contributed this review which ran first on Mostly Folk. It’s been 10 years since I bonded with my new office mate over the issue of a children’s song. It must have been a slow day in the … Continue reading
Posted in Books
Tagged Children's literature, folklore
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Patricia McKillip’s Something Rich and Strange
McKillip uses the sea in many of her books, but in Something Rich and Strange the sea is not only the setting and a metaphor for mystery and magic and change — the sea is the subject. The book begins with protagonists … Continue reading
Dana Sajdi’s Ottoman Tulips, Ottoman Coffee: Leisure and Lifestyle in the Eighteenth Century
I have enough interest in the Ottoman Empire to motivate me to check out almost any book, fiction or non-fiction, that focuses on some aspect of said. So I was more than happy to review Ottoman Tulips, Ottoman Coffee when offered the … Continue reading
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Tagged Ottoman Empire, turkey, Turkish culture
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Tanya Huff’s The Wild Ways
“For want of a nail, a shoe was lost. . . .” — William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of King Richard III. Remember that — it’s going to be important. The Wild Ways is the second of Tanya Huff’s stories of … Continue reading
Charles de Lint’s The Little Country
Under the earth I go, On the oak-leaf I stand, I ride on the filly that never was foaled, And I carry the dead in my hand. Scots Traditional, collected by Hamish Henderson Charles de Lint dedicates The Little Country … Continue reading
Posted in Books
Tagged Cornish folklore, Cornwall, fantasy
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