Category Archives: Books

Gail Simone’s Villains United

I mentioned at the end of my review of two of Gail Simone’s Secret Six collections that I was “going to lay hands on a copy of Villains United — I want the back story on this bunch.” Well, I … Continue reading

Posted in Books, Graphic Literature | Tagged , | Comments Off on Gail Simone’s Villains United

Gail Simone’s Secret Six: Six Degrees of Devastation, and Secret Six: Unhinged

Gail Simone’s “Secret Six” is actually the third superhero team under that name. The first two were really, truly heroes; this group, not so much. They are, in fact, all bad guys from the DC Universe, some recycled from other … Continue reading

Posted in Books, Graphic Literature | Tagged , | Comments Off on Gail Simone’s Secret Six: Six Degrees of Devastation, and Secret Six: Unhinged

Simon Jimenez’s The Vanished Birds

This is a most impressive debut novel. A finalist for the Locus Award for 2020 and named one of the best books of the year by tordotcom and Kirkus Reviews, it was also selected by Jo Walton as one of … Continue reading

Posted in Books | Tagged | Comments Off on Simon Jimenez’s The Vanished Birds

Bob Dylan’s Chronicles, Volume One

Is there a more important singer-songwriter? Has there ever been? When first I heard Dylan was writing a book — another book — I worried. Would this be Tarantula revisited? I remember Tarantula all too well. In 1966 the bookstore … Continue reading

Posted in Books, Music | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Bob Dylan’s Chronicles, Volume One

Robert Shelton’s No Direction Home: The Life And Music Of Bob Dylan, and Howard Sounes’s Down The Highway: The Life Of Bob Dylan

Where can I begin the story? I’d need a film camera’s flashing chain of images: Dylan at London’s Wembley Stadium in 1984 as 100,000 strangers sing his words…or Chicago, starting Tour ’74 to a thundering ovation…at London’s Albert Hall and … Continue reading

Posted in Books, Music | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Robert Shelton’s No Direction Home: The Life And Music Of Bob Dylan, and Howard Sounes’s Down The Highway: The Life Of Bob Dylan

Four books about Bob Dylan, reviewed in free verse

Carl Benson’s The Bob Dylan Companion: Four Decades Of Commentary Clinton Heylin’s Bob Dylan: A Life In Stolen Moments, Day By Day 1941-1995 Paul Williams’s Bob Dylan: Performing Artist, The Early Years 1960-1973 Paul Williams’s Bob Dylan: Performing Artist, The … Continue reading

Posted in Books, Music | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Four books about Bob Dylan, reviewed in free verse

Stephen King and f-stop Fitzgerald’s Nightmares in the Sky, and Janetta Rebold Benton’s Holy Terrors: Gargoyles on Medieval Buildings

In writing my review of In The Shadow of the Gargoyle anthology, I should have made reference to Nightmares in the Sky and Holy Terrors: Gargoyles on Medieval Buildings. I’ll amend that error with a separate review of these two … Continue reading

Posted in Books | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Stephen King and f-stop Fitzgerald’s Nightmares in the Sky, and Janetta Rebold Benton’s Holy Terrors: Gargoyles on Medieval Buildings

Nancy Kilpatrick and Thomas Roche’s In The Shadow of the Gargoyle

I’m reviewing In The Shadow of the Gargoyle largely because the Spring 2001 Berkeley Publishing Group catalog which arrived recently had a listing for a novel by Katherine Kurtz called St. Patrick’s Gargoyle. What’s the connection, you ask? Simple — … Continue reading

Posted in Books | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Nancy Kilpatrick and Thomas Roche’s In The Shadow of the Gargoyle

Anthony Hayward’s The Green Men of Birmingham

Anthony Hayward’s The Green Men of Birmingham is a delightful, self-published chapbook that should interest anyone fascinated by green men. Foliate heads, as they were called before Lady Raglan gave them their present poetic name in the 1920s, are those … Continue reading

Posted in Books | Tagged , | Comments Off on Anthony Hayward’s The Green Men of Birmingham

Ronald C. Finucane’s Miracles and Pilgrims: Popular Beliefs in Medieval England

Laurie Thayer wrote this review. Imagine that for the past several days, you have been suffering an unexplained pain. Over-the-counter pain relievers have not helped. Finally, you decide to take time off work and visit the doctor’s office. She quickly … Continue reading

Posted in Books | Tagged | Comments Off on Ronald C. Finucane’s Miracles and Pilgrims: Popular Beliefs in Medieval England