A Green Man Review

If you confront anyone who has lied with the truth, he will usually admit it – often out of sheer surprise. It is only necessary to guess right to produce your effect. — Hercule Poirot in Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express

Summer’s fully upon us here on this Scottish estate. We generally  get a summer much more pleasant than is commonplace in Scotland as we share a Border with what Yeats called the Celtic Twilight and the Fey really, really like warm summers. (And alas, cold winters as well, there being Summer and Winter Courts.) So I’m sitting under one of the Great Oaks planted a hundred and fifty-odd years ago by Lady Alexandra Margaret Quinn, Estate Head Gardener here for a very long time, who’s buried beneath them.

I’ve got a murder of crows overhead looking to see if they can steal anything from me as I’m eating lunch outside, but there’s naught that catches their interest, mercifully. Oh, eventually I’ll treat them to something from my repast but not right now.

I’ve got my iPad in hand, a most tasty Lady in The Wood IPA named in honour of that Estate Head Gardener to drink, and I just got a note texted to me that Chasing Fireflies are doing a contradance this evening with Gus, our Estate Gardener calling, so I need to get this done soon. Go ahead and get yourself one of those ales and I’ll have this Edition for you soon… Now where was I?

I like mysteries, so I’m selecting reviews of some of my favorite ones this time.

Cat has a look at two novellas in an interesting series: ‘As I write this review just before Election Day, there have been but two novellas released in the fascinating Sub-Inspector Ferron series “In the House of Aryaman, a Lonely Signal Burns” and “A Blessing of Unicorns”. I’m not sure how I came upon the first novella but it was a superb story, both in terms of the setting and in the characters that Bear has created here, including a parrot-cat called Chairman Miaow.’

He also had high hopes for Philip DePoy’s The Devil’s Hearth as he has ‘a special fondness for mystery series set in the Appalachian Mountains, even though there aren’t a lot of good ones and a lot of not so great ones. Sharyn McCrumb’s Balladsseries had some memorable outings, particularly among the later novels, and one which was outstanding, Ghost Riders.’ Read his review to see if DePoy lived up to his expectations.

Craig has a look at three mystery novels by the venerable Ray Bradbury, as collected in an omnibus. See for yourself why Craig says, ‘Where Everything Ends is a trio of fine detective novels (together with the short story that provided the starting point) from Bradbury in his inimitable style. He plays with the conventions, but since he so obviously loves the genre, this is easily forgiven — embraced, even — because the end results are, simply put, fine additions to the canon. This series is also dear to fans because it is likely the closest thing to an autobiography we will receive from this man who has brought so much joy to so many people for so many years.’

Leona gives an incisive review of Black Is the Colour of My True-love’s Heart, an Ellis Peters novel: ‘Originally published in 1967, ‘this is a book of music, of silence, of words; it has love, hate, and all their analogues. Myths and facts combine to wrap the storyline in a heavy cloak of authenticity. This is a story of high passion and cool deliberation; it dances through the morals and minds of another age and gives the reader a wide window into the world of folk music and ballad-singers.’

Lis thoroughly enjoyed a reissued classic mystery novel, Anthony Boucher’s Rocket to the Morgue, featuring LAPD Detective Lt. Terence Marshall. It has an SF tie-in, too: ‘… Marshall is investigating a locked-room attempted murder, questioning a selection of potential suspects from the Mañana Literary Society, the informal social circle of the science fiction writers living in and around Los Angeles at the time. For dedicated science fiction fans, this adds some extra fun, because these writers are mostly thinly disguised major sf writers of the period. However, if you’re only here for the mystery, you won’t notice, and it won’t distract from the story.’

Joel has a review of China Miéville’s intertwined cities as told in his Hugo winning The City & The City novel: ‘With acknowledgments to writers as diverse as Chandler, Kafka, and Kubin (to say nothing of Orwell), I don’t need to tell you this won’t be your typical detective story. But given this is Miéville, would you have really expected a typical anything?’

Next we have A.A. Milne’s The Red House Mystery, a classic English manor house novel that gets a look by Lory: ‘The story is not really a “whodunit” — the “who” is pretty clear from the outset — the question is “how” and, even more, “why” he did it, and Milne keeps us guessing until the end. The plausibility of the solution is not one that would hold up to heavy scrutiny, but the pleasure lies not in the verisimilitude of the puzzle but in the ingenuity of its construction and unravelling, and the witty repartee among the characters.’

A Britain that never was catches the interest of Lory: ‘Jo Walton has a knack for genre fiction with a twist. In the World Fantasy Award-winning Tooth and Claw, she gave us a Victorian family saga — complete with siblings squabbling over an inheritance, the woes of the unwed daughters of the house, and the very important question of What Hat to Wear — with a cast of dragons, literally red in tooth and claw. Now in Farthing, her material is the mid-century British country house murder mystery. The story is told in alternate chapters through the eyes of Lucy Kahn, a reluctant visitor to the family estate of Farthing, and over the shoulder of Inspector Carmichael, who has been sent from Scotland Yard to investigate the death of one of the other guests.’

Robert looks at Steven Brust and Megan Lindholm’s The Gypsy, which has been in his ‘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 that I’ve got to catch up on them.’ He goes on to say that he found this Hungarian folklore-tinged novel to be terrific, a comment I wholeheartedly agree with!

Cat, a lover of TV mystery series, reviewed a recent re-release of a British series about a Dutch detective. ‘Van der Valk is set in and around Amsterdam, where Commissaris van der Valk is a senior detective with a wife and children who are literally heard but not seen. Drugs, sex, WWII collaborators, political scandals, and, of course, murder are the primary themes of the series. But just as important to the feel of the series are the Amsterdam locations where all the exterior shots were done.’

Richard looks at a chapbook that covers a favored treat here at the Kinrowan Estate: ‘Ask anyone waving around a Drumstick cone or Klondike Bar where ice cream comes from, and you’re lucky if you get a smart-aleck response like “the freezer.” Ice cream may be near-universally loved (there’s an ice cream truck going down my block as we speak, and it’s not being shy about it), but it has an oddly shrouded history. Admittedly, most consumers of ice cream wouldn’t care if the first ice cream cone sprang, fully formed, from the forehead of Zeus, but for those who are actually curious about where their double-dip hot fudge sundaes originated – and who don’t want to read a tome the size of a cinderblock – there’s Ivan Day’s slender Ice Cream.’

‘It’s really hard to do a companion to a long running series well, Cat says, citing a couple of rare examples before he continues: ‘What had not seen a companion text was Mike Mignola’s Hellboy / B.P.R.D. (Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense) stories, which have spawned graphic novels, prose novels, lots of short prose fiction, not one but two critically acclaimed live action films, and two rather well-done animated films. Oh, did I mention a cornucopia of action figures? All of which is why Hellboy: The Companion exists!’

What’s David talking about here? ‘Hey man, don’t bogart that joint! This is some far out stuff. Shiva Jones, ex of the “mystical rock band Quintessence” and his musical partner Swiss recording artist Rudra Beauvert have combined their efforts to create a new mystical, almost psychedelic album of transcendent atmospheric rock.’ Find out more in his way out review of Shiva Shakti‘s self-titled record, which includes a brief visit from Sp!ke.

Eric discovered that Richard Shulman didn’t quite deliver on the promise implicit in his two albums Keeper of the Holy Grail and Camelot Reawakened. ‘It’s a lot to ask from an album – summoning up the sense of a divine presence in 45 minutes or so of conscientious listening. Camelot Reawakened and Keeper of the Holy Grail don’t quite achieve this goal, but the albums still have some merit strictly in the earthly appeal of the music. The high points are worth seeking out on each album, but don’t expect a transformational or truly inspirational experience. Maybe those results are just more than one can expect from a couple of CDs.

Gary joyfully reviews a new album from a familiar name: ‘Teddy Thompson is one of the best living interpreters of classic country songs (not counting Willie Nelson, who’s in a class all his own), and he only further cements his status on his latest album My Love of Country. On this album he rolls out a bunch of classics, a couple of deep cuts, and one well-placed surprise, and he does it all with tears in your beer authenticity that reveal his own love of the music.’

Gary enjoyed a new large ensemble jazz recording, Chuck Owen and the WDR Big Band’s Renderings. ‘I don’t know about you, but there are times when I just crave some swinging music with creative solos and lovely melodies over big horn charts. Renderings perfectly fits the bill.’

Gary also spent some time with Norwegian guitarist Morten Georg Gismervik’s Dunes at Night, an album that uses a variety of styles to tell a musical tale of sorts: ‘The music on Dunes at Night comes in two different styles, one portraying the outgoing and adventurous Kimri, the other the more introverted Winter. Kimri’s tracks for the most part involve propulsive grooves that often explode forth from quieter introductory sections, while Winter’s music highlights Gismervik’s sensitive guitar work along with delicate piano lines.’

Judith offered qualified praise to Silvery Moon, which she noted is by Aoife Clancy, who she notes ‘is the daughter of Bobby of the Clancy Brothers, and has been lead vocalist with Cherish The Ladies. Silvery Moon is her third solo album and is an amalgam of Celtic and American folk. If her name were not so Irish and were it not for the reputation of Cherish the Ladies, it would be easier to present this as a folk album with a few Celtic tracks, instead of a Celtic album with leanings toward American folk. But trust my words, Silvery Moon is a folk album.

Lars had kind words for Never Despair, an album by Cincinnati’s premier Celtic band, Silver Arm. ‘But in spite of doing a great job with the many Celtic tunes, it is when they move away from that territory that they really shine. They do a fine Swedish set of polskas (not to be confused with polkas) learnt from the now defunct Filarfolket. The first tune of the set is Ale Møller’s “Solpolska,” an intricate and beautiful tune performed on the oboe. They then move into “Magdalenapolska,” a faster, danceable tune with some lovely rhythm work. It is one of the best and most exciting tunes on the album.’

Michael interviewed Richard Thompson on the occasion of his solo acoustic trip to WOMADelaide in 2001, when it had been 35 years since he left Fairport Convention and struck out on his own. Said RT: I feel very fortunate to have people listening still, and a few young’uns. Thirty-five years is a terrifying prospect, but I shall enjoy the reunion in 2002. Fairport has survived by being good, and it gets a lot of local support.’

‘The first thing I thought about this album was “Hell, there’s nothing to dislike about it,” Peter said with typical straightforwardness, of Shirae’s Tiger’s Island. ‘Shirae are Shireen Russel and Reidin O’Flynn, two young ladies who are belting singers, to say the least. Their music is strong Irish folk rock, tinged with a bit of country & western. When they duet in harmony they have that magical sound that usually only sisters can produce. So I wasn’t surprised to learn later from their website that they are actually mother and daughter – that’s why they sound so good together.’

Rebecca felt like she was an an open mic night at the local coffeehouse when she lisened to Laura Siersema’s When I Left Loss. ‘Siersema writes some of her songs totally or partially in the third person, distancing herself from the characters so that the album does not take on the attitude of a confessional work. She seems to be trying to imagine life as other people live it. Perhaps the mood or some of the experiences are hers, and maybe she knows people like the characters she creates, but the album has a refreshing air of not being totally self-centered.’

Scott found the music on the Shetland band Shoormal’s Migrant pleasant enough, but not much more. ‘While Migrant does not suffer from any obvious weakness, the album does not really distinguish itself as something special, either. The music is quite pleasant, but one could argue that it is too pleasant and not really challenging. Having said that, any fan of straightforward female harmonies will find this worth a listen, and Trevor Smith is a first-rate guitarist as well. People looking for something light and melodic, in a mainstream, non-traditional sort of way, could do much worse than Shoormal.’

Stephen definitely liked the rootsy, bluesy rock on Ramsay Midwood’s Shoot Out at the OK Chinese Restaurant: ‘This album was originally released a few years ago by the artist himself, who’s been busy carving out an awesome live reputation, particularly on the European circuit. Fortunately, Vanguard Records have stepped in to prevent Midwood toiling as a “prophet without honour” in his own land, and have granted this CD the distribution it deserves.’

We’re not sure who wrote this Folkmanis review as our What Not this time, as that information does seem to have gone walkabout: ‘Folkmanis has gained an excellent reputation in recent decades for its overwhelming array of puppets. The plushies range from eerily lifelike to utterly fantastical. Right now I’m holding the Sea Serpent Stage Puppet in my hand. Well, okay, I’m wearing it on my hand…is that so wrong?’

So I’ve got some summery music for you that I think fits pretty much any season. It’s Michele Walther and Irina Behrendt playing Aaron Copland’s ‘Hoe Down’from Rodeo. I sourced it off a Smithsonian Institution music archive which has no details where or when it was recorded (which surprised me given how good they usually are at such things), but it may have been around 2011.

Several Annies, do pay attention now as there will be a quiz afterwards!

Well, now. Mackenzie has asked me in as tonight’s guest lecturer. He likes to keep these seminars going through the summer months, you know, when otherwise the staff and denizens of  the Kinrowan Estate get too caught up in the long days and short nights in Oberon’s Wood. Remember, Masters and Mistresses, you are supposed to be writing about books here.

And what does it mean, to write ‘about’ books? Hey? Any of you bright-eyed boys and girls ever paused to think about it, in your rush between the reference stacks and Jack’s in barrel? I’ve seen that barrel, and a mighty void it is, too. What are you all about as you proffer your analyses of art to the waiting ether?

Some might consider it a self-referential waste of time, especially the business of review and literary critique. ‘Them as can, do,’ the saying goes. ‘Them as can’t do, teach. And them as can’t do neither, criticize.’ Of course, that old saw is usually trotted out by someone who has written a bad book and been caught at it. There is power and skill needed to review a tale properly, so as to catch the casual reader’s interest and send it on like a well-aimed sling stone to find the original work itself.

But you may need to ask yourselves — and a frightening question it is — are you committing metafiction? When you write about another’s world, are you outlining the borders for the uninformed, or extending them? Are you lighting the path or creating a detour? It’s not my business or concern to tell you that — no, it’s not, so you can put away your notes and that dismayed look, young woman — it’s merely my intent to make you think about it. To read deeply and then to talk about it is a serious thing.

We all walk into books hoping. We hope for joy or mere amusement; for fulfillment of a dream and the filling of an idle hour; for a clear look at something we have glimpsed in dreams, or the first look at what has been unimaginable. When we consent to read a tale, we’re consenting to a journey that we have to take on faith. We hope to be well and safely conveyed the whole way, and not left robbed of our time by some nameless highwayman. We trust the writers to know the way and show us all the best sights. At their best, all writers take us on the perfect road; at your best, you are sharing your experience on that road.

Consider yourselves cartographers, ladies and gentlemen. Every book opened is a new world discovered. Worlds are vast things. They harbor as much danger as delight; neither one is always easy to find, and maps are required. Not all worlds will sustain life — a warning to the explorer behind you on the road can give warning that ahead is a deadly insufficiency of oxygen, or warmth, or wit. A bright red ‘Here Be Dragons’ pulls in as many eager travellers as it warns off the timid ones: someone languishing for the company of dragons may never find their heart’s desire without your directions.

So sharpen your pens and calibrate your compasses. The folk on staff all brought out their brightest inks, and the maps displayed in the books are grand examples to emulate.

Brown-eyed women and red grenadine,
The bottle was dusty but the liquor was clean.
Sound of the thunder with the rain pouring down,
And it looks like the old man’s getting on.

‘Brown-eyed Women’

Summer’s fully upon us here on this Scottish estate. We generally  get a summer much more pleasant than is commonplace in Scotland as we share a Border with what Yeats called the Celtic Twilight – the Fey really, really like warm summers. (And alas, cold winters as well, there being Summer and Winter Courts.) So I’m sitting under one of the Great Oaks planted a hundred and fifty-odd years ago by Lady Alexandra Margaret Quinn, Estate Head Gardener here for a very long time, who’s buried beneath them.

I’ve got a murder of crows overhead looking to see if they can steal anything from me as I’m eating lunch outside, but there’s naught that catches their interest, mercifully. Oh, eventually I’ll treat them to something from my repast but not right now.

I’ve got my iPad in hand, a most tasty Lady in The Wood IPA named in honour of that Estate Head Gardener to drink, and I just got a note texted to me that Chasing Fireflies are doing a contradance this evening with Gus, our Estate Gardener calling, so I need to get this done soon. Go ahead and get yourself one of those ales and I’ll have this Edition for you soon… Now where was I?

Craig was favorably impressed with Paul Green’s Encyclopedia of Weird Westerns. ‘It is very easy to get lost in the Encyclopedia of Weird Westerns, so make sure to set aside a good deal of time when you pick it up to “just look something up.” There are plenty of discoveries awaiting, and some old favorites to revisit.’

David waxed nostalgic about Singing Cowboys by Douglas B. Green (a.k.a. Ranger Doug of Riders In the Sky) . ‘Douglas B. Green has compiled a beauty of a book here. If you have any interest in the era or subject at all Singing Cowboys is a treasure trove of trivia and memorabilia. And it has a CD too! So you can listen to 10 of the greats as you peruse the pages. Aah . . . memories!

Donna found Nicholas Griffin’s Dizzy City enjoyable but a bit disturbing. ‘As I was reading this book, I realized how much it reminded me of Theodore Dreiser’s rather bleak urban fiction, particularly The Titan, and of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, which is certainly about a very skilled con artist. Griffin does a good job of capturing the grittiness of New York City and of revealing the motivations and tricks of people who live by their wits. I learned more about cons from reading this book than I ever wanted to know.’

Farah did an in-depth review of two books about the author of the Mary Poppins stories: Giorgia Grilli’s Myth, Symbol and Meaning in Mary Poppins: the Governess as Provacteur, and Valerie Lawson’s Mary Poppins, She Wrote: The Life of P. L. Travers. One she liked, the other she didn’t. ‘Although Lawson’s aim is not to illuminate the books, her account of Travers’ interests and obsessions offers a complex critique of Travers’ work, which helps to explain why they are as unnerving as they are fascinating. The same is not true of Giorgia Grilli’s account.’

Michael got a kick out of Chris Marie Green’s Night Rising, the first book in her Vampire Babylon series. ‘Night Rising is the first in a trilogy by Chris Marie Green, better known for her romances under the name Crystal Green, and it certainly seems as though she’s made the transition to urban fantasy without a hitch. Green plays with the Hollywood conceits perfectly, from the all-encompassing drive to “make it big” found in everyone from bartenders to gas station attendants, to the fear of falling into obscurity by those who have made it big. Hollywood’s tendency to chew up child actors and spit them out is brought up, as is the manner in which some celebrities die mysteriously, leaving behind legends.

Naomi found a lot to like in Single White Vampire Seeks Same, an anthology edited by Martin H. Greenberg and Brittany A. Koren. ‘It’s really hard to pick out a couple of tales to spotlight, as they were all so good! The first story in the book caught me completely off guard and had me chuckling, yet it also had me thinking very hard on the ramifications. “Personal Wishes” by Mickey Zucker Reichert has Cupid putting away his trusty bow and arrows, and trying something new. The Godling of love riding around on a subway is just too priceless a picture to let go of! Yet he is still doing his best to bring couples together with their ideal others.’

Robert has four reviews for, two from Jane Lindskold and two from Patricia McKillip.

The first is Changer: ‘Urban fanstasy is a subgenre with as many sets of criteria as there are practitioners. Ranging from the Celto-Amerindian universe of Charles de Lint’s urban Canada and Neil Gaiman’s eclectic universe of the Dreaming, with even hybrids such as Mark Anthony’s Last Rune paying tribute to fairies and hobgoblins, Lindskold has stepped neatly in and taken as her purview the myths and legends of all places, all peoples, and set them down in the contemporary American Southwest.’

He follows up with the sequel, Legends Walking: ‘Jane Lindskold has followed up Changer with Legends Walking, which opens a few weeks after Changer closes. The same characters appear, many in expanded roles, new athanor characters participate, and the story takes on added complexity as several plot lines develop.’

He next has a review of Winter Rose: ‘The story is told in McKillip’s characteristically elliptical style, kicked up an order of magnitude. Sometimes, in fact, it is almost too poetic, the narrative turning crystalline then shattering under the weight of visions, images, things left unsaid as Rois and Corbet are drawn into another world, or come and go, perhaps, at will or maybe at the behest of a mysterious woman of immense power who seems to have no fixed identity but who is, at the same time, all that is coldest and most pitiless of winter.’

He finishes up with Solstice Wood, a sequel of sorts to Winter Rose: ‘McKillip has always been a writer whose books can themselves be called ‘magical,’ and it’s even more interesting to realize that she seldom uses magic as a thing of incantations and dire workings, or as anything special in itself. It just is, a context rather than an event, and perhaps that’s the way it should be.’

Craig reviewed the DVD edition of the BBC’s celebrated miniseries I, Claudius, and a documentary about a 1937 failed attempt to bring the story to film. ‘Based on two novels by Robert Graves, I, Claudius was a groundbreaking miniseries, and is still today considered by some to be the totem by which all other miniseries are measured. It stars Derek Jacobi as the titular emperor and autobiographer. As narrator, Claudius tells us his family history from his grandmother Livia’s marriage to the Emperor Augustus Caesar to the end of Claudius’ own life, at the hand of others.’

Kelley submitted a review of a British style pub in Portland, Oregon, as well as a couple of beers he sampled there. One of them was Rogue’s Hazelnut Brown Nectar: ‘The Hazelnut Brown Nectar is a daytime beer, a lunchtime beer. We felt this was a beer meant to go with a sandwich, hearty enough to provide sustenance, but refreshing enough for the middle of the day. Not surprisingly, it was nutty, with a yeasty edge, and a bit malty in the finish. Its color happened to match the mahogany-colored broth in the Murphy’s Stew perfectly. If hops aren’t your thing, you should try this.’

Craig revisits an old favorite in Jeff Smith’s SHAZAM!, the DC revival of the old original Captain Marvel character. ‘There was always a certain kind of “Gee whiz!” quality to the Captain Marvel stories I remember, and it’s this quality that Jeff Smith captures in spades. Captain Marvel isn’t the type of character who, in my view, lends himself to the kinds of darker existential angst that tends to dominate the superhero genre of today. If things like Peter Parker’s eternal guilt over his failure to save Uncle Ben, or Bruce Wayne’s constant toeing of the fine line between hero and criminal, or even Superman’s loneliness as the last survivor of a destroyed planet, are what you look for in a superhero tale, then Captain Marvel probably isn’t for you.’

Big Earl reviewed From Paris With Love by the legendary Jamaican band Skatalites. ‘The Skatalites were the original house band for Jamaican musicians in the early ’60s, backing literally every artist on the island. A jazz band that stumbled across a new beat and attack, their ensemble playing gave the world ska, and later reggae. Comprised of very talented players, the band often chose cheeky songs to cover, like “The Pink Panther Theme” or “Baby Elephant Walk,” and managed to to make even the most trite material sound vital.’

Gary reviewed some Catalonian jazz on Èlia Lucas Quartet’s Introspecció. ‘The young Catalonian pianist and composer has a wealth of music education and experience already, and plays in various jazz, pop and indie groups. She lives in Barcelona, where she teaches music and is studying for a degree in classical music. That interest in classical is reflected in many of the compositions on Introspecció. The other three members of the quartet – Edu Pons on alto and soprano sax, Tomàs Pujol on double bass and Kike Pérez on drums – bring her compositions and ideas to life.’

Gary was also thrilled with the klezmer music he found on Yale Strom & Hot Pstromi’s The Wolf and the Lamb, which he said ‘is exactly the sort of high quality release I’ve come to expect from Arc. The choice of music, the performances, and the wealth of background information that come with this recording are exemplary. The detailed liner notes for each song and the album as a whole and the choice artwork and photography enhance the experience of listening to this vibrant, living music.’

John was supportive of the artists in his review of three albums by diverse singer songwriters: Marc Broussard’s Momentary Setback, Jens Hausmann’s Back on the Track, and Penny Nichols’s I’ll Never Be That Old Again. ‘Diversity is the name of the game, and with two American singer songwriters dealing in varied parts of the roots arena, and an American-born guitarist/singer now based in Germany, the recipe is made for an interesting musical journey.’

Patrick liked the music but not the faux-Irish singing on Glass In Hand by the Chicago band St. James Gate. Glass in Hand is fine pub – or bar – fare, but it does not rise above that level, though it has the potential. If these guys lose the accents and sing “Whiskey in the Jar” in the same style they tackle “Will the Circle Be Unbroken,” their music would be much better off.

Peter was supportive of More Electric, an album by Canadian guitarist Shane Simpson. ‘Shane is very much a guitarist’s guitarist. His style and ability carry his songs. I found myself admiring and listening to the guitar work more than the actual song content. On this side of the water, if you are a fan of Albert Lee you are sure to pick up on Shane Simpson.’ His wife liked it too; read it to find out why!

Peter also gives a nice review to a CD so rare we couldn’t even find a photo of its cover art! ‘This is the sort of thing a lot of bands send out to prospective venues and festivals when looking for a booking,’ he says of The Skirlers’ Cutting the Bracken, but he liked it anyway for its authentic live feel. ‘True, some of the songs or tunes are not without the odd ‘nervous’ mistake, but this does not matter one jot. You’ll be hard placed to spot them anyway! And that’s part of the charm of the album. I have a feeling this album is just a taste of what the Skirlers are like live.

Sean brings word of an archival recording of music from a lengthy documentary series about the lives of working people that was on the BBC in the late ’50s and early ’60s. Singing the Fishing collects some of those songs, mostly written and arranged by Ewan MacColl, and performed by MacColl, Charles Parker, and Peggy Seeger. ‘In an age when much folk music has lost touch with its underlying narrative, Singing the Fishing is a reminder of the magnificent potential that is locked inside this art form.’

What Not comes courtesy of Mia who looks at four of Folkmanis’s creations, to wit Blue Dragon, Green Dragon, Three Headed Dragon, and Phoenix and she says, ‘Oooooh, shiny! I have a box of dragons here! Folkmanis makes the best puppets ever, and their dragons are some of the finest of their puppets.’

I rather like ‘Brown-Eyed Women’ quite a bit but my favorite version isn’t the one with Garcia singing that the Dead did, but rather is one someone here found some years back. The late Robert Hunter who wrote much of what they played including this song and my favourite version is done by him during a show at Biddy Mulligan’s in Chicago on the tenth of October some thirty years ago. So let’s now listen to him doing that song.

Everyone ignores two important facts: one person’s crap is another person’s beloved book, and publishing has always produced books in great volume. ― Kristine Kathryn Rusch’s Discoverability

There’s a contradance going on just now, but my left knee, injured many decades ago, is acting out, so I decided to stay in the Pub and listen to the Neverending Session which has been playing a lot of hambos (think of them as a sort of a mazurka if you wish) this evening as I write up these notes. Gary Whitehouse as always did the music, graphic novel and film sections. 

Speaking of the latter, we should welcome sone folk who are both great writers and all around nice to have around, Lis Milner, Warner Holme and Paul Weimer, who’ve been here for some months now. Welcome! 

We’re doing nothing but works by Roger Zelazny this time so we’re leading with a review by April of his longest work: ‘Roger Zelazny’s Amber series spans three decades, ten volumes, several short stories, a RPG, graphic novels and even a recent revival attempt (John Betancourt’s Dawn of Amber series). Packed into those original books and stories is a wealth of characters, settings, items and plots — far too much minutiae for any but the most die-hard fan to remember. And that’s where Krulik’s The Complete Amber Sourcebook comes in. The Sourcebook is not for someone who has not read the entire series, as spoilers are literally everywhere. Krulik assumes an audience already familiar with the core set of books.’

She also has look at an unusual novel from a SF writer doing his only thriller: ‘Dead Man’s Brother is a delight to read — Roger Zelazny’s language and characters seem right at home in this genre — and regrettably over all too fast at less than 300 pages. If only more such jewels were left to unearth…’

Cat leads off a review in this way: ‘If you started listening to audiobooks over the past ten or so years, considered yourself to be extremely lucky as you’re living in a true Golden Age where narration, production, and ease of useless is extremely good. But long ago, none of that was something you could take as a given as it most decidedly wasn’t.’ Now read his review of Roger Zelazny’s Isle of Dead to see if this older audiobook transcended these limitations.

And he says ‘Roadmarks features a protagonist somebody is trying to kill as he moves along a time-travelling road. As one does. ‘Zelazny really didn’t do plots all that well, but he was gifted at developed unique characters and settings. So, like so many of his novels, this one’s true strengths lies in the unique nature of the setting, combined with the character development…’

The Ides of Octember: A Pictorial Biblography of Roger Zelazny is, Iain notes, ‘a bibliography which was prepared as part of The Collected Stories of Roger Zelazny, a six volume undertaking, of which you’ll find the first volume, Threshold, reviewed here.’ Read his review on this bibliography which only diehard Zelazny fans or libraries with a strong  sf emphasis should consider buying, so quite naturally we have a copy.

Let’s not give away what happening in the story Lis reviews A Night in the Lonesome October: ‘ Snuff is our narrator, here, and he’s a smart, interesting, likable dog. He’s the friend and partner of a man called Jack, and they are preparing for a major event. Jack has a very sharp knife, which he and Snuff use in gathering the necessary ingredients for the ancient and deadly ritual that will be performed on Halloween.’

Robert has a rather unusual book by him — well, unusual for Zelazny, at least — Damnation Alley: ‘One of the key elements of Zelazny’s work was his complete disregard for the boundaries between science fiction, fantasy, and mainstream literature. Consider that, within a science fiction framework he frequently introduced mythological characters, not as mythic archetypes but as actual characters, and pushed the boundaries of what was acceptable stylistically within the genre into more widely accepted literary conventions. And, having said that, I’m faced with Damnation Alley, a novel from early in his career (1969) that seems, on its surface, to undercut my points.’

While poking around in the back reaches of the Library, he also ran across an old favorite, Roger Zelazny’s collection The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His Mouth and Other Stories: ‘Although he published his first story in the early 1950s, Roger Zelazny didn’t really impact the science fiction scene until 1963. That’s when I remember reading “A Rose for Eccelsiastes” in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (with their best cover ever illustrating Zelazny’s story). He followed it up the next year with the title story of this collection, which won him his first Nebula award. Zelazny and his contemporaries went on to become the American branch of science fiction’s New Wave, and pushed the envelope until it was altered beyond recognition.’

Lest we get too comfortable with all this summer sunshine, Asher reviewed the creepy Darkness Falls. ‘What I like so much about Darkness Falls, as well as Craven’s They, is that besides that light and deft touch, you can really feel with the film what it was like to be afraid as a child. Both films, especially this one, rely on suspension of jaded adult comfort with an ordinary good night’s sleep. That sense that the worst thing lurking in the shadows of suburbia is a conventional axe-wielding psychopath, escaped from the local asylum, is being challenged again.’

Gary loves cookies, so he was eager to try Trader Joe’s Chocolate & Peanut Butter Joe-Joe’s sandwich cookies. His verdict? ‘They’re tasty and definitely satisfy your sweet tooth. I don’t think they need to be as sugary as they are, but then I’m not the one making gazillions of dollars selling high-end snacks to the bougies, so what do I know?

Not exactly a graphic novel, but it’s filled with graphic art: David got his rave on about Paul Grushkin & Dennis King’s The Art of Modern Rock, detailing concert posters from the indie music explosion of the early 2000s. ‘There are 1,800 of these posters presented in The Art of Modern Rock. One thousand, eight hundred! And they are accompanied by photographs and brief biographies of many of the artists who created them. At first perusal I missed these photos altogether! It was the posters I was looking at. Page after page of beautiful, then bizarre, then disturbing, then funny, wait…funny and disturbing…images. Drawings, paintings, solarized photos, sometimes organized according to artist, sometimes by theme, the images were just so rich and plentiful that on my first time through I simply looked at them.’

Alistair dug into No. 1 Scottish, the first album by students on the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama’s own label. ‘However, put any notions out of your heads of school yearbooks, of end-of-year brag productions to convince proud parents that their investment is not being consumed in the Horseshoe Bar. This is a thoroughly professional release, standing proudly as a sampler of the best of Scottish traditional music as interpreted by some of Scotland’s most accomplished young performers.’

David reviewed a tribute disc to a Canadian folk singer that many people in the U.S. have probably never heard of. Here’s what he has to say about One Voice: A Tribute to Norm Hacking. ‘Norm Hacking is a big man with a big heart and a lot of friends. Many of them gathered in the last year to put together this collection of some of Hacking’s best songs, performed with affection and skill. Wayne Marshall, a guitarist and songwriter from Brantford, Ontario, produced this rich and varied collection.’

David also reviewed a four-disc set compiled for the 40th anniversry of the Philadelphia Folk Festival, drawing on performances during many years of the festival that began in 1962. ‘This box set is an extraordinary little box of treasures. Even the booklet is well-designed, filled with mementos and curios, and tons of information about the performers and the festival.’

Speaking of summer, Gary reviewed a couple of albums of surf music, Southern Culture on the Skids’ Mojo Box and Laika & The Cosmonauts’ Local Warming. ‘Whether that phrase makes you think of the smooth, polished, multi-guitar sound of The Ventures, the slashing rumble of Link Wray, the power-picking of Dick Dale or the danceable pop of ’60s beach blanket movies, you still probably have some idea of what to expect. These two January 2004 Yep Roc releases, one from a long-standing U.S. band, the other from Finland, of all places, showcase some of the different directions surf music has taken.’

Gary also reviews a new album of Catalán jazz, Magalí Sare & Manel Fortià’s ReTornar. ‘Inspired by their travels and cultural exchanges as musicians, these songs lean heavily on their Catalonian roots, but they’ve spliced on bits of Portuguese, Brazilian, Mexican, Cuban, Argentinian and Afro-Caribbean folk  vtraditions and rhythms, all of it informed by their jazz sensibilities. They start with various folk songs of various provenance and genre and joyfully mix things up.’

‘Featuring some of the best-known names in the Asian Underground – Ananda Shankar, Joi, Asian Dub Foundation – and a number of lesser known acts, Rough Guide’s latest compilation dares to compete with what must be the essential guide to the scene, the legendary 1997 Talvin Singh Presents Anokha – The Soundz of the Asian Underground,’ Inigo said in reviewing the Rough Guide to Asian Underground. ‘By focusing on the output of friendly rival label Nation Records, compiler DJ Ritu chose to complement rather than compete, and this album serves to fill out the historical record of the emergence of one of the most interesting music scenes today.’

Jack wrote up an omnibus review of several CDs loosely defined as dance music: Flying Tomatoes’s Rags to Racenicas, Atomic City Rhythm Rascals’ Atomic City Rhythm Rascals, Birol Topaloglu’s Aravani,  Mukka’s Skip Lizard, Pinewoods Band’s South by Southeast, and Stömp’s Machine Without Horses. ‘All of these CDs are very, very good – great for dancing and superb for just listening to! Hell, I may even discuss dance music from other regions! You’ll just have to read on to see what tickles my fancy.’

Our What Not this week is another treat from Folkmanis. Says Robert: ‘I seem to have another Folkmanis puppet lurking around, this one the Rat In a Tin Can. The Folkmanis website describes him as being ready for a playful picnic (note the napkin in one paw). However, it seemed to me that he might just as easily be a waiter in an upscale rat restaurant: his black-and-white pattern might almost be taken for formal wear.’

There are bands for which I’ve a deep liking for pretty much everything they done and so it is with Chicago’s ‘Saturday in the Park’ which I’ve heard playing off and on over the past forty years. It’s certainly an upbeat, feel good summer song much like ‘Love Shack’ by the B-52s. It was recorded forty years ago this August at the Park West in Chicago.

The studio version was released on Chicago V in 1972 and peaked on the Billboard charts at number three which is bloody impressive. It was lovely enough that I’ve never gotten tired of it. But I’ve prattled on enough about it, so here’s the song for you to have the pleasure of hearing performed live.

Eight hours, sixteen ounces of chocolate and they’re still not right — Resident Izzie Stevens, making cupcakes in the Grey’s Anatomy, “Save Me”

Yes, we love chocolate a lot around here, to the extent that Ellen Kushner once shared her hot chocolate recipe with us, the same chocolate drink quite popular with the characters in her Swordspoint novel and other Riverside tales. You’ll have to ask Mrs. Ware and her Kitchen staff for it as I’ve never actually been told what it is. Oh, and that toast is spread with the Lindt Chocolate Hazelnut Spread which they’ve just starting selling here in the UK. Really, really ymmmy!

It’s summer, so the Neverending Session has decamped from the Pub to the Greensward ‘til the sun starts to come down to take advantage of the fantastic summer weather. Yes, I know this is Scotland, which has shitty summer weather, but we share The Border with that place, call it, if you will, Tír na hÓige, and their Summer Court love warm, sunny summers so we get the same. Now guess what it’s like when the Winter Court holds sway…

Cat had high hopes for Philip DePoy’s The Devil’s Hearth as he has ‘a special fondness for mystery series set in the Appalachian Mountains, even though there aren’t a lot of good ones and a lot of not so great ones. Sharyn McCrumb’s Ballads series had some memorable outings, particularly among the later novels, and one which was outstanding, Ghost Riders.’ Read his review to see if DePoy lived up to his expectations.

Craig has a look at three mystery novels by the venerable Ray Bradbury, as collected in an omnibus. See for yourself why Craig says, Where Everything Ends is a trio of fine detective novels (together with the short story that provided the starting point) from Bradbury in his inimitable style. He plays with the conventions, but since he so obviously loves the genre, this is easily forgiven — embraced, even — because the end results are, simply put, fine additions to the canon. This series is also dear to fans.

Denise has a novella by Stephen King and Richard Chizmar that may start off in the summer, but gets decidedly chillier as you turn the pages.  Gwendy’s Button Box  ‘is a delightful slow burn of disquiet and dread’  that has our reviewer wanting more.  ‘If this is how King and Chizmar work together?  I’m hoping this will be the start of a beautiful friendship.’

Gary says Kim Stanley Robinson lulled him into a sense of complacency in one of his recent SF tomes about the future of humanity and the Solar System. ‘The main body of his prose in 2312 is so calm and measured, coolly analytical and matter of fact, that I must have been expecting thle Solar System-wide conflict that it portrays to be ironed out peacefully, boringly, in a committee meeting of polite but forthright diplomats. But then, as it nears the 500 page mark, a crisis looms, action erupts, danger flares, lives are lost and almost lost, souls sent spinning across the void of space inside the orbit of Venus, and you can’t seem to turn the pages fast enough.’

Ellen Datlow and Nick Mamatas’ Haunted Legends, says Gereg, is ‘something of a paradox:  As a collection I found this volume kind of weak, but there are a lot of very fine stories in it.  So many, in fact, that on going back over the anthology a second time, I wondered why I’d thought it was weak in the first place.  As a reader, I’d probably just leave it at that; but as  reviewer, I feel I owe it to my adoring public to tell you precisely why I feel the overall effect is weak.  So I dove back into the book for a third time.  Such travails are how I earn my fabulously high salary here.’

Charles de Lint’s Yarrow: An Autumn Tale  gets a loving look by Grey: ‘Cat Midhir has stopped dreaming. People assure her that it isn’t possible, that she just doesn’t remember her dreams, but Cat knows they’re wrong. Where her dreams have been, there is only heaviness and loss. For Cat, this loss means more than it would to most of us, because she is that rarest of all dreamers, a person who returns to the same dream every time she sleeps. In her dream world live her truest friends and her only source of inspiration for the books and stories that have won her acclaim in her waking life…’

Robert has two Autumnal fantasies by de Lint: ‘Charles de Lint is known as “the godfather of urban fantasy,” and indeed, it’s in that genre that he’s made his mark – he’s never been a writer of heroic fantasy: in a better than thirty year career, very few buckles get swashed, although the two short novels included in Jack of Kinrowan — Jack the Giant Killer and Drink Down  the Moon — come close, something of a romp a la Dumas pere — by way of Harold Lloyd, perhaps. Both concern the adventures of Jacky Rowan and Kate Hazel, best friends who find themselves enmeshed in the doings of the land of Faerie that coexists with modern-day Ottawa.’

He also looks at Moonheart, perhaps de Lint’s best loved novel: ‘Moonheart may very well be the first novel by Charles de Lint that I ever read. I can’t really say for sure — it’s been awhile. It certainly is one that I reread periodically, a fixture on my “reread often” list. It contains, in an early form, all the magic that keeps us coming back to de Lint. (And be reminded that Charles de Lint may very well be the creator of what we call “urban fantasy” — he was certainly one of the first to combine contemporary life and the stuff of myth.)’

Spiritwalk he says ‘is a loose sequel to Moonheart, a series of related tales, again centering around Tamson House and including many of the same characters. In fact, the House is even more important as a Place in this group of stories. It begins with a brief discussion of Tamson House from a book by Christy Riddell, whom we will meet again in The Onion Girl and Widdershins, followed by a delightful vignette, “Merlin Dreams in the Mondream Wood,” of Sarah Kendell, age seventeen, remembering her childhood “imaginary” playmate, a red-haired boy named Merlin who lived in the oak tree at the center of the garden. It’s a sweet, sad tale of the price of love.’

Our culinary review is Randy Armstrong’s Dinner On The Diner which has the dubious honour of being the first and only recording in our long history that got legal action threatened by the artist against us for defamation. Big Earl, a Canadian baker, just wasn’t pleased with either the music or the recipes in the booklet. The artist in the end backed down.

David did an omnibus review of four graphic novels: Walt Holcombe’s Things Just Get Away From You, Gilbert Hernandez’s Heartbreak Soup, Jaime Hernandez’s Maggie the Mechanic, and Rutu Modan’s Exit Wounds. The fourth, Exit Wounds, he says, “…is a modern classic. It tells the story of a young Israeli taxi-driver whose father left the family for another woman a few years back. The cabbie Koby Franco receives a message from a female soldier named Numi. She believes that Franco’s father (her lover) has been killed in a suicide bombing. Their investigation opens wounds of all sorts.’

A longtime fan of British-Albanian singer Elina Duni, Gary was rapturous over her new quartet album. ‘A new Elina Duni album is always cause for joy, and A Time To Remember is no exception. … Nostalgia, the ache you feel for times gone by, knows no season. This album is flawless and moving now as spring turns to summer, but I suspect it will gain an added poignancy come autumn and winter.’

Next he take a close look at the reissue of a trio of albums from the ’90s by the U.K. singer of Indian descent, Sheila Chandra: Weaving My Ancestors’ Voices, The Zen Kiss, and ABoneCroneDrone. ‘They sound just as fresh, arresting, and revolutionary to my ears in 2023 as they surely must have when first released.’

He also liked Elements, a new recording by Swedish ‘rock star’ folk fiddler Lena Jonsson. ‘This time out she’s playing in a trio with Erik Ronström on guitar and Kristofer “Krydda” Sundström on bass, on a dozen of her own compositions. Based around the Swedish folk tradition but with lots of influences from jazz to world music, they range from humorous Scottish folk dances to melancholic waltzes and nimble polkas.’

The new release from Norwegian violinist Nils Økland and keyboardist Sigbjørn Apeland, Glimmer, is a mostly somber affair of traditional folk melodies performed with modern arrangements, he says. ‘Smack in the middle of the tracklist are two traditional pieces that lighten the mood considerably. The transcription “O, venner” (Oh, Friends) is warm and uplifting, with both of the musicians providing lots of twinkly improvised grace notes. And even warmer is the lovely, hymnlike “Se solens skjønne lys og prakt” (See the beautiful light and splendor of the sun), which was a perfect listen on the evening of the solstice, I assure you.’

Gary loves jazz standards, so he was bound to enjoy a new one from Noah Haidu. ‘Rising star pianist Noah Haidu releases a quartet album called Standards 40 years after the famed trio of Keith Jarrett, Gary Peacock and Jack DeJohnette released their first album of the same name, but you don’t need to know that to immediately fall in love with this date. In a trio format (with sax on a few tracks), Haidu deftly explores a double handful of durable swinging bops and ballads. This is straight ahead hard bop and post bop at its best.

Encounters with Sasquatch and trapping rabbits for dinner on a university campus are paired with more serious songs about Indigenous oppression on an album of country music by Saltwater Hank. Gary says, ‘Saltwater Hank is the stage name of songwriter, fiddler, and guitarist Jeremy Pahl, a member of the Gitga’at Ts’msyen community in Kxeen, (Prince Rupert), British Columbia. Writing and performing in Sm’algyax, the Ts’msyen language, he’s part of the pushback against centuries of cultural oppression and erasure. … But any political, linguistic, or cultural significance aside, this is kick-ass music.’

Our What Not this outing is a Folkmanis Mouse with Cheese puppet that got overlooked when it came so Reynard gives it a review now: ‘I’ve no idea when it came in for review, nor do I know how it ended up in the room off the Estate Kitchen that houses the centuries-old collection of cookbooks, restaurant menus and other culinary related material, but I just noticed a very adorable white mouse puppet holding a wedge of cheese in its paws there. Somebody had placed it in a white teacup on the middle of the large table so I really couldn’t overlook it. ’

We’re big fans of the Thompson clan here, and some of us are particularly fond of Teddy Thompson’s way with a classic country ballad. Good news: He’s releasing an album of just those kinds of songs, a follow-up to 2007’s Up Front & Down Low. The aptly titled My Love of Country will be out in August, and the first single is out now. You can just tell that “A Picture Of Me Without You” has George Jones’s stamp on it, but check out Teddy’s excellent cover.