Category Archives: Books

Kage Baker’s In the Garden of Iden, Sky Coyote, Mendoza in Hollywood, and The Graveyard Game

The Company series to date consists of four delightful novels that detail the serio-comic (with a very dark edge) adventures of the immortal cyborgs of Dr. Zeus, Inc., a for-profit company that has existed for millennia, giving eternal life to … Continue reading

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Fred Saberhagen’s God of the Golden Fleece: Books of The Gods Volume IV

Naomi de Bruyn wrote this review. I can’t think of a better way to spend a rainy spring weekend than with my nose poked into a good book. I spent this weekend with Fred Saberhagen’s God of the Golden Fleece, … Continue reading

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Francis James Child’s The English and Scottish Popular Ballads

…true popular ballads are the spontaneous products of nature… — Francis James Child So it only took a century for a corrected edition of the first volume of the most famous ballad collection in the Anglo-Celtic tradition to be published. Was … Continue reading

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Roald Dahl’s The Best of Roald Dahl

Craig Clarke penned this review. Sure, you’ve read his books for kids. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, Matilda; these are wonderful representations of the twisted imagination of Roald Dahl. But they feel a little restrained, … Continue reading

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Andrew F. Smith’s The Tomato in America

The tomato is one of the most popular “vegetables” in America, where thousands of tons of them are consumed every year. They’re similarly popular around the world. They’re also the subject of a small mountain of folklore. And like all … Continue reading

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Mort Rosenblum’s A Goose in Toulouse

Mort Rosenblum, a longtime reporter based in Paris, used his connections, his considerable interviewing and writing skills, and his passion for good food to create A Goose in Toulouse, a personal odyssey in search of the future of French cuisine. … Continue reading

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Terry Pratchett’s The Last Hero

What happens when a hero is really good at what he does? He gets old, like the rest of us. But after he’s outlived his usefulness, he doesn’t know how to be anything but a hero. At least, that’s the … Continue reading

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William R. Eakin’s Redgunk Tales

Welcome to Redgunk, Mississippi. It’s a town with a couple of hundred residents, several of whom have been abducted by aliens and many of whom are dating them. It’s a town with a fake mummy in the five-and-dime, not that … Continue reading

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David Hajdu’s Positively 4th Street: The Lives and Times of Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Mimi Baez Fariña and Richard Fariña

Joan Baez and Bob Dylan were key figures in 20th century American popular music. Joan’s sister Mimi and Mimi’s husband Richard Fariña were lesser lights, but important figures in the folk and folk-rock scenes. David Hajdu’s book of “the lives … Continue reading

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Hunter Davies’ The Quarrymen

I’ve been a Beatles fan from just about the beginning. I started collecting their albums at age 8 in early 1964, just after they first hit America. I’ll forever regret that I didn’t see their Ed Sullivan Show appearances. My … Continue reading

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