A Green Man Review

Luxury always comes at someone else’s expense. One of the many advantages of civilization is that one doesn’t generally have to see that, if one doesn’t wish. You’re free to enjoy its benefits without troubling your conscience.  ― Ann Leckie’s Ancillary Justice

That’s ‘Number 37’ which is  James Keelaghan’s homage to a female horse racer playing here in the Green Man Pub this lovely day. It’s off one of the myriad samplers that we get, Festive to Go: An All Canadian Sampler that came in quite some years ago. I’m looking for a live recording of it so I can share it but no luck so far.

I remember seeing him play this quite some years back at a concert somewhere in Canada where I was managing the door as a favour to a friend. He pulled a flask out of his jeans that held some of the finest Irish whisky that I’d ever had. Don’t recall who distilled it but fuck it was good! If you’re in the mood for some Irish this afternoon, I’ll recommend the Powers John’s Lane which we carry here along with several others. It’s pricy but worth it.

Kelly has a tasty piece of pulpy SF for us: ‘Poul Anderson, who died in 2001, was one of the grand old voices of science fiction right up until his death, winning the Hugo Award seven times, the Nebula Award three times, and being named in 1997 as a Grand Master of the Science Fiction Writers of America. His was a long and prolific career. In the middle of that career, he created a character named Dominic Flandry, whose adventures had eluded me as a reader until my review copy of Ensign Flandry arrived on my desk. Now I’m wondering why.’

Richard states: ‘Sometimes, the intentions are better than the end result. Such is the case with Multiverse: Exploring Poul Anderson’s Worlds, a tribute to the late Grand Master edited by Gardner Dozois and Anderson’s son-in-law Greg Bear. This is not to say that Anderson isn’t worthy of the honor. On the contrary, even a cursory look at his body of work suggests how highly he should be regarded.’

Robert says that  ‘Summon the Keeper is quite possibly the first of Tanya Huff’s books that I read – she’s another one of those writers who has a long history in my library. This one is a contemporary urban fantasy that is hilariously funny, original, and captivating.’

He also  has a review of Patricia McKillip’s 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 also looks at Solstice Wood, a sequel of sorts to Winter Rose though you do not read that novel first: ‘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.’

Warner starts off with Charlotte Carter’s Rhode Island Red which he says ‘is a nice little mystery centering on the author’s recurring detective Nanette Hayes. Charlotte Carter has a number of quality novels under her belt at this point, yet on initial publication in 1997 this was the first to feature this detective. As one of the author’s earlier books, it is also a fascinating look back into older examples of her work.’

He says Sean Hogan’s England’s Screaming is ‘an interesting piece of literary studies as fiction. Specifically, it takes a number of icons and figures from British horror and attempts to build a coherent timeline of events assuming they are united world. This is a fascinating idea, harkening back to David Thompson’s Suspects (a fact which Hogan makes clear in his own preface) or Philip Jose Farmer’s World Newton ideas. although done with different style and organization.’

Short fiction is next for him: ‘Darren Speegle & Michael Bailey’s Prisms is an anthology centered almost entirely upon the strange matter of point of view. Whole stories exploring the question of change, and points of view. The pieces within this collection vary from obviously science fiction and fantasy to seemingly being a slice of life.’

He next has a review of a book that sounds very interesting: ‘Stephen Spotswood’s Fortune Favors the Dead is a wonderful bit of throwback fiction, featuring a pair of detectives solving mysteries while sharing a home. It is hardly a new formula, yet works so well that readers are willing to give their love to it. The case here deals with a psychic, a rich family, and a series of fairly distanced deaths. Still, like so many pairs, the detectives have to meet.’

Cat was very enthusiastic about the Beeb’s The Inspector Alleyn Mysteries on DVD: ‘Nothing is amiss here — and keep that in mind, as it becomes important in a minute — with the acting perfect, the scripts well-written, and the setting (which appears to be London just after the Second World War) wonderfully realized. All in all, it’s one of the better BBC mystery series I’m seen done, an equal of the Brother Cadfael series which starred Derek Jacobi.’

David and Spike checked out the Anthony Minghella film adaptation of Charles Frazier’s novel Cold Mountain. David was less than favorably impressed. ‘I suppose we shouldn’t expect realism in a film that is essentially fantasy. That two people should fall so hopelessly in love after a courtship that takes place at a distance and over only a few passing moments is a romantic notion that has provided the impetus for hundreds of novels. Somehow the idea works better on paper than on film. Especially when the director has gone to so much trouble to make the setting real.’ And Spike? I like the bit where they cut up the cow! That wuz really grisly!

Our archives this time bring forth a plethora of reviews of all things Batman.

Cat has spent a lot of time watching Batman: The Animated Series on DVD, and was quite pleased with this book about it, Paul Dini and Chip Kidd’s Batman Animated. ‘Batman Animated is a lavishly illustrated commentary by Paul Dini, writer on the series, and Chip Kidd, the author of Batman Collected, which is possibly the most fanatical look at the various products — from soap dispensers to action figures — based on the Batman franchise.’

Richard takes a detailed look at Grant Morrison and Tony S. Daniel’s Batman R.I.P., and comes to a bit of a mixed conclusion: ‘As a reader, you either go with what Morrison’s doing, which is to use the worst excesses of Batman’s long and storied history to try to get at some core truths about what has made the character so enduring, or you don’t. If you do, the narrative is an intriguing, clever look at precisely how powerful the idea of The Batman is, as manifested by Bruce Wayne’s imitators, followers, and ultimate drive to seek the truth when even his core personality has been stripped away. If, however, you don’t, it’s a muddled mess that’s overly reliant on willfully obscure bits of continuity, loaded with ridiculous supporting characters, and too clever for its own good.’

April casts her eye (and pen) over Neil Gaiman and Andy Kubert’s attempt to assist DC in laying to rest a bunch of old Batmans in preparation for a reboot, in Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader. ‘The scenario is a seemingly simple one: a rogue’s gallery of villains – and allies – have gathered in a torchlit room off a dark alley in Gotham City to pay tribute to an open casket. A casket containing Batman’s body. But there’s a twist, of course, for the proceedings have a pair of unseen voyeurs: Batman himself and a mysterious woman.’

April said it looked like DC was gearing up for a Batman reboot with Neil Gaiman’s book (see above), and here it is. Robert attempts to untangle the complex skein that is the beginning of a new Batman & Robin series. ‘Grant Morrison, in Batman Reborn, has brought us the next generation of — well, of Batman and Robin. In this case, Batman is Dick Grayson, the former Robin, the former Nightwing. Robin is Bruce Wayne’s son Damian, ten years old, raised by his mother and her league of assassins, returned home to undertake his part of his father’s legacy. It’s not an ideal mix, as far as personalities go.’

Robert found Matt Wagner’s Batman/Grendel to be a mixed bag. This book draws together two crossover series bringing those two characters together. Of the first, he says, ‘I have reservations about this one, starting with the story itself: it’s more than a little formulaic, even for comics, and Grendel’s methods, while certainly in keeping with his character, are almost trite. My deeper complaints have to do with the way the story is executed. … Most of those complaints disappear in the second mini-series, incorporating “Devil’s Bones” and “Devil’s Dance.” ‘

As is his wont every year about this time, Gary looks back at some of his favorite music of the past 12 months. Gary’s favorite jazz and world music of 2021 includes jazz duos, trios, quintets and larger groups, plus a lot of “Nordic noir” and some Uyghur folk songs.

Next, he reviews his favorite roots, rock, and Americana music of 2021. ‘There was plenty of good Americana and roots music in 2021, but I didn’t hear a lot of great music in those categories. Which is fine, and understandable. We’re all struggling to stay afloat.’

‘Doran is the sound of four young musicians engaged in the serious business of playing with sound,’ Gary says of this group’s self-titled debut. ‘These four, who hail variously from the Pacific Northwest, New York City, and rural Virginia, have made one of the most spine-tingling and yet comforting albums of American folk music in 2021.’

And he looks back at January 1966, when he was puzzling out the new album from The Beatles, Rubber Soul. The cover is different for one thing, and the music is different too: more acoustic than electric, and though still largely love songs, they’re more mature. In the end, he says, it’s ‘a solid, compact, enjoyable album. It may not have been apparent at the time, but it shows the Beatles beginning to pivot away from teenage love songs into more mature fare, which would become glaringly obvious on their next album Revolver.’

Coda

Sometime she forgot what subculture she was living in. — Dagmar Shaw in William Jon Williams’ This Is Not A Game

The Kitchen this morning decided to take upon themselves to turn out a most excellent batch of pumpkin cream cheese muffins. Now, the Kinrowan Estate has grown those creatures for centuries now and they get used in cooking quite a bit here. Pumpkin soup, pumpkin pie and tarts, curried rice with pumpkin and winter veggies… You name it, it’s likely pumpkin has played a role in it. Though not that abomination that is pumpkin spice coffee that Starbucks has popularised!

I like my coffee freshly brewed which is which the Pub has its own machine here. It is a Wolf Ten Cup Automatic Drip Coffee Maker. You don’t want to make too much coffee ahead.

Cat says in his review that “I’ve got a lot of audiobooks in my Audible library as it’s been my primary source for such matters for many years now, so sometimes I forget if I’ve listened to one of them. This is how I came to be listening recently to Lavie Tidhar’s The Great Game, a genre stretching thriller that’s set, I think, at the end of the Nineteenth Century in an alternate universe that’s a riff off various literary works in our universe. Think Allan Moore’s The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen as an apt comparison. It was a wonderful listen.’

He also found a lot to like in Seanan McGuire’s Indexing books: ‘I’m re-listening right now to one of those things that Seanan McGuire does so ever well: she takes a familiar story and make it fresh. … I first read it as novels when they came out some six years ago and then listened to it a few years later. Now being home confined due to three knee surgeries, I’m doing a lot of audiobooks and this was a series I wanted to revisit while working on other things.’

Gary reviewed all three of the books in William Gibson’s so-called Blue Ant trilogy: Pattern Recognition, Spook Country and Zero History. He says, ‘The best-selling series brought Gibson out of the ghetto of genre fiction into the limelight of more mainstream fiction, which is something that some sci-fi fans may hold against him. One of the inventors of cyberpunk is writing books that aren’t even sci-fi, and they’re about … fashion! How dare he?’

Farah Mendlesohn’s Diana Wynne Jones: The Fantastic Tradition and Children’s Literature gets a review by Kestrell: ‘Diana Wynne Jones (DWJ to her fans) is one of those writers who, despite the fact that she is frequently referred to as a “children’s author,” has a significant following of adult readers. Although there are an increasing number of literary critics addressing the subject of children’s and young adult fantasy, there is still a lack of literary criticism addressing why those books often shelved in the children’s sections of bookstores and libraries hold such a strong appeal for so many adult readers. Despite the title of this book (a title chosen by the publisher, not the author), its subject is a sophisticated exploration of Diana Wynne Jones’s complex approach to writing and storytelling.’

Jo has this review she wrote for Folk Tales, the predecessor of GMR a very long time ago.: ‘Folk legend merges with Jane Yolen’s creative world to create a work of pure magic in The Wild Hunt, which should be destined to become a classic in the world of children’s literature. Pitting the forces of light and dark against one another is a common theme, but it is rare for those forces to acknowledge the other as essential to their own existence, as done in this delightful tale. Yolen’s use of time and words have woven a masterpiece from the ancient threads of an old tale together with the modern threads of something totally new and different. The resulting tapestry is beautiful to behold.’

Richard’s first review is a look at an award-winning fantasy series which is perhaps the most English of the series here: ‘Trying to write an omnibus review of Robert Holdstock‘s Ryhope Wood cycle is a damnably difficult task. On a strictly practical note, two portions of the cycle (‘The Bone Forest’ and Merlin’s Wood) are fiendishly hard to find. ‘The Bone Forest’, which can be found in The Bone Forest collection describes the original explorations of George Huxley and Edward Wynne-Jones into the nature of Ryhope Wood, at a time when Christian and Stephen Huxley, the protagonists of Mythago Wood and Lavondyss are still children.’

He also looks at Donald E. Morese and Kalman Matolcsy’s The Mythic Fantasy of Robert Holdstock: Critical Essays on the Fiction: ‘The myth-infested landscape of Robert Holdstock’s Ryhope Wood would seem to be fertile ground, not only for walking legends and “mythagos”, but also for literary criticism. After all, in the sequence Holdstock tackles not the structures of mythic fiction – dark lords, questing heroes, magical macguffins and so forth – but rather the concept of myth itself, and how the same core stories have echoed down through the millennia, amplified and distorted and reflected by centuries of human experience.‘

Richard ginishes his reviews off with a book of Appalachian lore for us: ‘Manly Wade Wellman’s stories of Silver John are like snatches of a familiar song: you find them in the most fascinating places, but good luck finding the whole tune in one place when you want to. While the Silver John tales are relentlessly anthologized (at least, by anthology editors with good taste), finding the actual novels and collections of stories featuring Wellman’s wandering guitarist are rarer than hen’s teeth. Finding a Silver John novel, like After Dark, is cause for a discerning reader to rejoice. Alas that such causes for rejoicing are few and far between these days.’

Robert starts off a review I think is perfect for a reading as it was the author’s Birthday this week this way: ‘I’ve long followed Charles de Lint’s writing, starting with, if I remember correctly, Moonheart way back when, and I’ve been as close as I ever come to being a fan for years. (I even got my hands on some early stories, somehow.) So when I was asked to do a review of The Cats of Tanglewood Forest, I said, “Yes. I haven’t had a chance to read de Lint in a while.” ’

Warner says ‘Lyndsay Faye’s Observations by Gaslight is a collection of stories about a familiar detective which take an interesting stylistic decision as a common feature. The subtitle of the book is “Stories from the World of Sherlock Holmes” yet rather than featuring Watson as the narrator, instead chooses to have each tale told by a different individual.’

In a thorough omnibus review, Michael took a run through three Brian Froud faery-related collaborations, including the first in the “pressed fairy” series: Lady Cottington’s Pressed Fairy Book, and Strange Stains and Mysterious Smells, both by Froud and Terry Jones; and Good Faeries, Bad Faeries by Froud and Terry Windling. ‘Froud’s artistic genius has matured and developed a lot over the decades. He’s not the same artist he was when he helped create the uniquely memorable characters and concepts in *Labyrinth*, but he’s changed only for the better.’

Next up Michael takes a fond look at Lady Cottington’s Pressed Fairy Journal, also by Froud and Terry Jones.  ‘Worry not, for no fairies were harmed in the production of this book, even though a great many of them appear flattened and squished on the pages. See, what they’ve left are -psychic- impressions, and the whole thing is actually something of a fairy sport. So you don’t have to feel sorry for them.’

The review of Brian Froud and Ari Berk’s Lady Cottington’s Pressed Fairy Letters fell to Mia, who was charmed. ‘The third volume exploring the world of notorious Lady Angelica Cottington, Lady Cottington’s Pressed Fairy Letters brings us a collection of her correspondence, saved and carefully pressed along with more of her victims . . . er, specimens . . . in another insanely fascinating companion to her Pressed Fairy Book.’

Finally, if you’re tired of all those faeries, pressed or otherwise, Mia takes us for a spin through Ari Berk and Brian Froud’s Goblins, which she says ‘is a brilliant representation of Berk and Froud’s contact with the goblin world — and it was very close contact, as Froud even locked a goblin scribe in his downstairs bathroom (Help! I trapped in downstairs water closet. Mr. Froud very bad man … Come to Froud ground floor poop-cupboard and unlock door. Will give you many socks and a small dog with cheese on him. — Gargle)!’

Gary reviews the final two installments of a 20-volume series of CDs of the Folk Music of China. First, he gives an overview of the sprawling Vol. 19 – Folk Songs of the Lahu, Jingpo, Jino and Achang Peoples: ‘It’s difficult to do justice to such a panoply of diverse music on one disc, even in 36 tracks, and just as difficult in a review. This 19th and penultimate volume of the Folk Music of China series feels like a whirlwind sonic tour of Yunnan province, best experienced with a hot cup of tea, perhaps pu-erh.’

Next up is the even more compendious Vol. 20 – Folk Songs of the Hui, Manchu, Xibe, Korean and Gin Peoples, with 41 tracks covering the music of five ethnic groups! ‘This 20th volume of the Folk Music of China series is emblematic of the whole: filled with incredible variety in style, substance and performance. It is surprising and gratifying that so many of these highly differentiated regional and ethnic styles of folk song have survived the arrival of radio, television and other electronic media. I don’t know if any of this music is threatened by the rapid modernization and urbanization of China, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it is.’

Gary enjoyed the modern hard bop sounds of a quintet from the Spanish region of Catalonia called David Viñolas’s 5ET. ‘Viñolas is a true international player. As a drummer he has played with musicians in jazz and other idioms throughout Spain as well as in France, Cuba, Turkey, Portugal and Austria. Viñolas has been blind since his birth in a village in Catalonia, and showed an early interest in music, playing classical piano and Catalan music with local student ensembles, where he showed particular interest in drums. Largely self-taught in his early years, he’s been a voracious student of all aspects of modern music in various schools, workshops, and through private lessons.’

We’re nearing the end of another calendar year, so as I was perusing the music archives I had in mind the many, many variations on Robbie Burns’s curious song ‘Auld Lang Syne’ our reviewers have covered over the years. Here are just a few of the examples I turned up:

Chuck was a bit puzzled by A Thistle and Shamrock Christmas Ceilidh, which he liked but said was more of a Green Linnet sampler than a holiday album. ‘With tracks as recent as Lunasa’s “Goodbye Miss Goodavich/Rosie’s Reel” from 1999’s Otherworld and as old as Tannahill Weavers “Auld Land Syne” from 1982’s The Tannahill Weavers IV, there’s a lot of good material for Ritchie to choose from. Several songs of the season are included. Besides the above-mentioned “Auld Land Syne,” Altan’s “The Snowy Path” (From Harvest Storm) and John Renbourn’s “I Saw Three Ships” (from Christmas Guitars), fit the winter theme. Outside of that, however, there’s nothing but good music.’

Gary notes that June Tabor’s jazzy ensemble Quercus opened their second album Nightfall with an interesting rendition of ‘Auld Lang Syne.’ ‘It has become something of an odd musical touchstone in Western culture, a song that looks resolutely backward that is sung at the beginning of each new year, a paradox that Tabor embraces by placing this in the first position. It’s reharmonized, as they say in the jazz world, to a tune that’s less sentimental and less obvious than the one we all drunkenly sing on the stroke of midnight. And of course Tabor includes the other verses, giving herself and the players a chance to explore things a bit.’

Gary also found a lot to like (of course!) in Richard Thompson’s Old Kit Bag, including a sardonic song that comments on our ambiguous New Year’s ritual. ‘Thompson saves almost the best for last, with “Happy Days and Auld Lang Syne.” Underneath the surface of this glimpse of a relationship’s end lurks a typically twisted bit of Thompson commentary. The title, of course, refers to the song sung in much of the English-speaking world at the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve, Robbie Burns’ “Auld Lang Syne.”

Lars mostly enjoyed an offering from The Gothard Sisters, a Celtic trio who work many other styles of roots music into their performance, as they do on their third CD Mountain Rose. ‘I am not that impressed by their reading of ”Auld Lang Syne” though. They rush through it, and at the end you understand why; they turn it into a fast, furious reel. And that part is superb. Probably a great number to finish one of the girls’ 120 concerts a year, but as a song it does not work on record.’

Lars was gobsmacked by a 12-CD collection of The Complete Songs of Robert Burns, which includes more than one version of our now New Year’s Eve standard. ‘This is one of the most ambitious recording projects I have encountered within the folk music world, covering all of Robert Burns’ 368 songs. It took about six years and twelve volumes to complete, with a great number of well known Scottish musicians and singers taking part.’

For this week’s What Not, Robert has a group of four — count ’em, four — finger puppets from Folkmanis: ‘All in all this is a nice group, although there’s not a lot of mobility — about all you can do is wag your finger back and forth, but given their size, I suppose that’s about all that can be expected.’

Let’s finish off with Garmarna, a Swedish group founded in nineteen ninety ,after several of them who were friends saw traditional Swedish music performed in a film. Emma Härdelin, their vocalist, would join them several years after that. ‘Vedergällningen is from a concert in Sweden they did around the turn of the millennium.

And when I feel alone, like no one understands what I’m going through, I remember my friends who get it. I never thought I’d be able to do any of this stuff, but I can. Anyone can wear the mask. You could wear the mask. If you didn’t know that before, I hope you do now. Because I’m Spider-Man. And I’m not the only one. Not by a long shot.— Miles Morales in Spider- Man: Into the Spider-Verse

So you want to try something different this afternoon from the Green Man Pub stock? You about Glen Kennebragh single malt whisky? It’s quite good but it‘ll cost you deep in the pocket as it’s a thousand pound bottle which is why I keep it on that recessed shelf. So that’s sixty pounds if you’re up for it but I do pour a generous dram.

So may I get you a copy of Iain Banks’ Raw Spirit: In Search of The Perfect Dram to read? It’s a popular around here for the obvious reasons. And as Banks says in the book, “After doing extensive research, I can definitely tell you that single malt whiskies are good to drink.”

April starts our book reviews off with a work from Charles de Lint: ‘Part murder mystery, part horror story, Mulengro is a de Lint urban fantasy of a different sort. Set in and around modern day Ottawa, the novel is, above all else, a study in colliding cultures, namely those of Rom and Gaje (all that is not Rom), that which is resilient yet transitory and that which is possessive.’

Now let’s have a look at Charles de Lint’s Newford Stories: The Crow Girls. Of all the immortal shapeshifting beings that inhabit the Newford stories, the most charming, at least for me, are Maida and Zia, the two Crow Girls, who look like pinkish teenagers — all in black, naturally. After you read Cat’s review, you can experience them first hand in ‘A Crow Girls Christmas’ written by (obviously) Charles de Lint and charmingly illustrated by his equally talented wife, MaryAnn Harris.

Chris looks at deservedly beloved holiday classic: ‘Perhaps it’s the season, or the utter magic of Van Allsburg’s talents, whatever the reasons, the Twentieth Anniversary Edition of The Polar Express appears luxurious and incandescent. If you have (as we do) a beloved dog-eared copy that gets read each Christmas you won’t find any misguided, dramatic, self conscious, ‘gee, how can we repackage this for media savvy kiddies?’ mistakes; just the familiar, wonderful book in a nice matching slipcase. What you will notice most are the deep, rich, exquisitely printed illustrations.’

Gary read recent editions of the first and third novels of Iain M. Banks’s Culture series, Consider Phlebas and Use of Weapons. It wasn’t the first time he’d read them, but he still found both gripping, as he says in his dual review.

He looks at another novel in the series: ‘As with all of Bank’s Culture novels, Surface Detail is richly imagined in addition to being intricately plotted. The characters’ actions sometimes surprise but never seem out of character. The settings are minutely described, and in such a way that I can almost always them see in my mind’s eye. There was a short section somewhere past the midpoint where I felt that the plot got bogged down for a while; other than that, I could hardly turn its nearly 650 pages fast enough.’

Gary also reviews a book of literary criticism about the Culture series. He says Simone Caroti’s The Culture Series ‘is valuable reading for anyone who wants to move into a deeper understanding of what that series is really about, where it stands in the history of SF and literature, and why it’s important.’

Grey looks at a seasonal work from Wendy Froud and Terri Windling: ‘The faery court of Old Oak Wood was not the largest in the British Isles, but it was the oldest, steeped in elfin history and tradition. Ruled by Titania and Oberon, those celebrated lovers of story and song, the wood was a misty, mossy place hidden deep in the hills of Dartmoor. The court maidens of Old Oak Wood were said to be the most beautiful, its dancers lightest on their feet, its flying faeries faster than the wind. Its wizards and its warriors were famed throughout the faery realm. But young Sneezle was none of these things; he was just a humble tree root faery who lived in a small round house at the very bottom of Greenmoss Glen — The Winter Child’

Steampunk set in the Victorian Era is quite the rage these days (even if much of it is shite),  so it’s apt that Kelly has a review of  the following work: ‘To the casual reader or observer, it sometimes may seem that the twentieth century was the time of real blossoming in terms of the Fantastic in literature: after all, that’s when science fiction really came into its own, and when a certain Don of Oxford penned a tale about hobbits and gold rings. But the more rigorous student of the Fantastic knows that Fantasy, as well as those tropes that eventually spun away to become science fiction, are far older than just a hundred years. The literature of the fantastic stretches back as far as Homer, after all, and likely even before that. The Encyclopedia of Fantastic Victoriana, a long-gestating labor of love by Jess Nevins, focuses on the Fantastic of the Victorian era.’

A Book of Tongues by Gemma Files got this note from Richard: ‘Generally speaking, the supernatural western rests roughly at the heart of Joe Lansdale’s run on Jonah Hex. You can shift it a little toward Briscoe County here, a little toward the Deadlands RPG there, but really, the metaphor’s pretty solidly set. Until, of course, something comes along like Gemma Files’ A Book of Tongues, which takes the traditional supernatural western, sizes it up, and then calmly shoots it in the back of the head.’

It’s the time of year when we look back over the year (or years) past, and Robert came up with a series that has become a contemporary classic: Glen Cook’s Annals of the Black Company, recently (well, fairly recently) reissued in a set of omnibus editions. Start with The Chronicles of the Black Company: ‘We all have our personal lists, individual counterparts to those periodic lists of “most important,” “best,” or whatever the accolade of the moment might be. I have a personal list of “best fantasy series” that includes some works that might not be “great,” but several that I think arguably are. In the realm of modern heroic fantasy, in particular, I think anyone would be hard put to protest the inclusion of Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, Fritz Leiber’s tales of Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser, Michael Moorock’s great cycle of stories of The Eternal Champion, and Glen Cook’s Black Company.’

Warner has a historical mystery for us: ‘Overall Lindsey Davis’ A Comedy of Terrors is excellent. It features a number of interesting characters, a twisted mystery, and a wonderful setting. While it does not add too many elements to the Flavia Alba Roman Empire series, it does a fine job of illustrating a new status quo. Recommended to those looking for a female led historical mystery.’

He says that ‘Cody Goodfellow & Joseph S. Pulver Sr.’s New Maps of Dream is an anthology that also serves as a love letter to the Deamlands stories of H.P. Lovecraft and others. Filled with carefully chosen stories themed after dreams and a special reality in them, this is a collection in which even the elements which are predictable are exquisitely crafted.’

Up for some Holmes? Warner starts off with Sherlock Holmes’  A Case of Royal Blackmail,  a novel about the great detective by Ian Strathcarron. ‘Serving as a prequel of sorts, the book deals with the romantic affairs frequently conducted by Edward the VII, nicknamed “Bertie.” ‘

Cat looks at a film that he wasn’t sure about: ‘Marvel’s animation has in contrast to that of DC generally sucked. It’s been weak, both in overall design and in actually carrying the story. It often looks awful and feels dated. DC live films may be a mess but their animation efforts are usually second to none. However Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse had been getting reviews that said its story was great and that its animation was stellar, so I figured I’d give it a go.’ Did he like it? Oh yes!

Michael looks at two Spider-Man films. Of the first, he notes: ‘Spider-Man reinvents the classic comic book character for the big screen, remaining as faithful as possible to the source material. We follow the evolution and growth of Peter Parker from tormented geek to daring hero. All the classic elements are in here.’ And he follows up with Spider-Man 2.

And Robert takes a look at another version of the Spider-Man story: ‘So I had this coupon from Best Buy that allowed me to pick up a copy of The Amazing Spider-Man for half price. Another one of those films I’d heard of but didn’t really know much about, except that 1) it’s about Spider-Man, a character who has started to intrigue me, and 2) superhero.’

Of Jason Latour’s Spider-Gwen, Volume 0: Most Wanted Cat says: ‘Please note that I’ve said little about the story here. That’s quite deliberate as I want you to have the fun of discovering just how great a story Latour has written. It’s certainly one of the better uses of the Spider mythos I’ve seen. I’m going to have to read the rest of the story of Gwen Stacy of Earth-65, drummer in the Mary Janes when she’s not keeping the Multiverse safe from harm.’

Gary notes that jazz bassist Christian McBride has played an annual December residency at the storied Village Vanguard for many years. He’s just released a CD recorded there during one such residency in 2014 with his quintet Inside Straight, whose members play vibraphone, saxophone, piano and drums in addition to McBride on bass. ‘If you enjoy modern hard bop type jazz like I do, you’re in for a treat with this superb set by Christian McBride & Inside Straight.’

In the wake of the sad news of the passing of Michael Nesmith last week, we’re re-running Gary’s recent review of Nesmith’s three albums that he made with the First National Band just a little more than 50 years ago: Magnetic South, Loose Salute, and Nevada Fighter. Rest in peace, Papa Nez.

We’ve covered a lot of winter holiday music over the years, so we pulled a few from the archives for your enjoyment this time:

David had very high praise for the first winter holiday release by the archival label Dust-to-Digital. ‘There are some Christmas albums that can be played non-stop throughout the Christmas season — favourite seasonal songs by your favourite singers. … But every once in a while a record comes along that transcends the season and provides good listening, solid musical value, and even (dare I say it) historical importance to be played outside the month of December. Where Will You Be Christmas Day? is one of those recordings.’

David was unexpectedly pleased with The Jethro Tull Christmas Album: ‘The songs are, for the most part, original pieces which carry a traditional framework, and offer lyrics which comment on the realities of modern life, and how our expectations for the Christmas season might be somewhat skewed… The sound is beautiful, the mood seasonal, and the message timely.’

He also rather liked their benefit release for the holiday season, Merry Christmas from Ian Anderson and Jethro Tull. It’s a short three song CD to raise funds for an organization called Wild About Cats, and the music is lovely, he says: ‘It’s all very warm and cozy. People outside the office called in, “Dave! You’re putting us in the Christmas spirit!” Oh! Wouldn’t want to do that . . .before you know it I’ll be surrounded by tinsel and lights!’

Kim reviews a mixed bag of Christmas-themed CDs, and she likes all of them! ‘Bringing out the holiday music is as much a part of the ritual as baking cookies, pounding out some carols on the family piano, and wrapping presents. These are the types of discs that get played year after year, or discarded if they don’t measure up.’ You should proceed to her omnibus review of Ensemble Galilei’s A Winter’s Night, St. Agnes Fountain’s Acoustic Carols for Christmas, and Comfort & Joy, and O Christmas Tree: A Bluegrass Collection for the Holidays from our good friends at Rounder.

Peter had a couple of minor quibbles about Broceliande’s Sir Christmas, by a folk group based in Southern California. ‘If, after listening to the album, you thought the band has been classically trained, you would be one half right. The tempo, playing and singing are absolutely note perfect. In fact for some of the folk music buffs it might be just a little clinical, but it was okay by me, and it is pleasant enough. It was, however, just a little strange to hear the song “Gloucester Wassail” sung in a mid-Atlantic accent instead of a Gloucestershire dialect.’

So our What Nots this edition are all Spider-being figures, all reviewed by Cat.

First up is a review of the masked Funko Rock Candy Spider-Gwen figure, out of the many figures in the Rock Candy line of Marvel characters. He says that ‘she was more than a bit difficult to find, as she was a Hot Topic exclusive but she had long since disappeared from those stores by the time I managed to track her down some months later. The non-masked version showing Gwen Stacy with blonde hair was available online just about everywhere — at the original price.‘

He purchased another Spider-Gwen, to wit the Marvel Femme Fatales Spider-Gwen Statue, he  ‘went shopping for a decent representation of Spider-Gwen after repeated watchings of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse while I had my first of two lengthy stays in-hospital for treatment of a staphylococcal infection. She was definitely a highlight of the film — tough, intelligent and a match in every way for the Spider-Man of that universe, Miles Morales.  Surprisingly there were very few available then, several years back, though there are many more now. Or rather there were lots sans her hood showing the face of Gwen Stacy.‘

The Miles Morales Spider-Man figure. is officially known as the Kotobukiya Marvel Ultimate Spider-Man Artfx+ Statue. a mouthful indeed. Ccat says ‘So I went hunting on the internet for a good Miles Morales Spider-Man figure. I liked that particular Spider-Man after seeing Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse while I was in-hospital being treated for a staph infection that required not only that I have bone surgery but that I spend forty two days there having antibiotics three times a day.’

Our musical coda befits the Winter season that’s here in force now with the first serious snow storm arriving last week. ‘Mojas Katrin’  is from Mari Boine Persen‘s Schauburg, Bremen, Germany performance of some twenty five years ago, though the exact date’s unknown. I think that both her voice and playing feel perfect for this season.

The storyteller in me asks: what if? And when I try to answer that, a story begins. ― Jane Yolen, author of The Wild Hunt

That lovely aroma is smoked ham cheddar biscuits with a dusting of unsweetened cocoa powder baking in the Kitchen down the hallway about fifty or so feet from here and one floor up. One of the perks of being the Pub Manager is that it is quite close to the Estate Kitchens so that no matter when the sudden urge to grab a bite occurs I can head that way quickly and grab something delicious. And of course I can smell every one of those ever so tasty things being conjured up there which is a great perk indeed!

Indeed Mrs. Ware and her oh so talented Kitchen staff spend much of  the period from late November right through to lambing season providing lots of edible treats that are placed around Kinrowan Hall and the grounds as well, such as peanut butter dark chocolate fudge behind the bar in the Pub; s’mores ready for roasting in the warming hut out by the Mill Pond; and carefully wrapped clay pots of smoked turkey, rice  and veggie soup in the Barn for those doing outdoor chores in this cold weather, to name but a few of them.

Now let’s see what I’ve got for you in this edition….

Cat says ‘Politics are always a bitch. And Murder in the Cathedral demonstrates this reality quite well. Generally thought to be the best of T.S. Eliot’s five plays, Murder in the Cathedral is about the murder of Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas à Beckett in 1170 in his cathedral. But it’s really about the now long-concluded struggle in Britain between secular and religious authorities that was still raging at that point in time. It is a dramatization in verse of the murder of Thomas Beckett at Canterbury, which over the years has become more important than it really was.’

Next he goes to sideways in time: ‘Ah, to visit John Carter and the inhabitants of Barsoom, Edger Rice Burrough’s richly imagined Mars. The characters in Robert Heinlein’s The Number of The Beast did in their travels across the multiverse, and now the protaganist of Rainbow Mars does it. Well, sort of. Maybe. Possibly. Let me explain the confusion that I may have intentionally generated… Larry Niven has stated many times that he firmly believes that time travel is logically impossible — an utter and complete fantasy. So when retrieval specialist Svetz heads back from polluted future Earth in search of extinct animals, he tends to sideslip into fantastic, fictional worlds. And delightfully so in these stories.’

That Charles looks at Charles Vess’ Drawing Down the Moon: The Art of Charles Vess. Now as his detailed review’s as much about the friendship that grew between them, I’ll let you read this charming tale of friendship and art without further ado. Oh and the book itself is simply stunning — truly an art gallery in a book form!

Craig looks at a John Updike novel considered a part of the literary canon: ‘In the end, The Witches of Eastwick is a good novel. It is not a great novel; it is not even a great witch novel. The research is at best minimal and often seems negligible. Nor does it compare favorably with the rest of the Updike canon, certainly not his tetralogy of everyman Harry “Rabbit” Angstrom, whose libido gets him in enough trouble to fill four novels and a novella. The book is not a waste of time, as long as the reader appreciates the above mentioned prose and description style.’

Gary has read (and reviewed) a lot of the late great Iain M. Banks’s Culture novels, but for some reason hadn’t yet covered the second of the series, The Player of Games. He’s now remedying that: ‘It’s a deceptively layered story, something of a game in itself. From the very outset we’re told by the unidentified narrator that all is not what it seems. The story begins with a battle that is not a battle and ends with a game that isn’t a game, we’re told. Just who the book’s title actually refers to is but one of the bits of authorial legerdemaine we’ll contend with as we follow the story.’

Kate reviews a choice book on Jethro Tull: ‘Scott Allen Nollen has proven his devotion as a Tull fan in the countless miles travelled and the hours passed collecting details and interviewing band members and other associates. He has included nostalgic pictures of the band, some of which were borrowed from Ian Anderson, the often frenzied flautist who, despite some controversy, became the Fagin-like front man for the band. After ten long years of research, here in Jethro Tull: A History of the Band, 1968-2001 is a comprehensive and entertaining story of the much misunderstood Jethro Tull. The authenticity is underlined by the thoughtful and honest foreword written by Ian Anderson himself.’

A Chinese mythology infused series featuring Detective Inspector Chen is next up. The first one finds favour with Liz. She opens thusly — ‘Snake Agent, like any good detective novel, all starts with a dame …’ But does it lay ‘a solid framework for future novels in the series’?

Marian looks at a trilogy by Jane Yolen that deserves to be a classic. First up is ‘The Books of Great Alta  which is the compilation of Yolen’s two books in the series,  Sister Light, Sister Dark and White Jenna. It is the story of the women of Dale, who worship Great Alta, the mother goddess and what happens to them for better or worse.’ If you’ve read these already, then do read Marian’s review of  the final volume, The One-Armed Queen, but otherwise do not as it has major spoilers about what happens in the first two novels.

Michael looks at Holly Black and Ellen Kushner’s Welcome To Bordertown collection: ‘A generation ago, Terri Windling and Mark Alan Arnold introduced us to Bordertown, an abandoned American city sitting on the Border between the “real world” (The World) and Faerie (The Realm). A place where science and magic both worked, if equally unpredictably, it became a haven and a destination for runaways and outcasts of both worlds, a place where humans and the Fae (aka Truebloods) could mingle, do business, eke out a living, and find themselves. It was a place where anything could happen.’ Need I say that a goodly number of women writers are present throughout the course of these books?

Robert looks first 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.)’

Spritwalk, 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.’

Vonnie looks at a novel by Patricia Mckillip, a favourite writer around here: ‘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 Megan and Jonah (how is that for an apropos name?) experiencing a sea change after a long winter during which their lives had settled into a routine dependent on the shore. But the sea brings ambiguity, too. Just as the sea has the power to transform the people and things near it, the characters slowly realize that humanity has the power to overwhelm the sea, defeat it and kill the life in it. Moreover, man is doing so.’

Warner leads off this review: ‘Jeffrey Ford’s Big Dark Hole is another collection by an acknowledged expert storyteller. It contains  stories that range from the horrific to the whimsical, and gives a broad range of stories within a relatively small package.’

Warner has the start of a mystery series for us: ‘Gone for Good is a wonderful little book detailing the ins and outs of a cold case gone hot. The twists and turns that happened throughout the plot are believable enough and keep the reader invested, while the characters remain both interesting and largely relatable. Easily recommended to fans of Joanna Schaffhausen’s work, or those merely looking for a good mystery.’

Chuao Chocolatier’s Chocolate Bars were a mixed bag accord to Cat R: ‘ Most of the bars I tried were terrific but some are more successful than others. Idiosyncrasies of taste may make a difference; when I tweeted about the one I really disliked, someone mentioned that was their favorite, and bemoaned not being able to find it. And it’s not entirely fair to stack dark chocolate up against milk, particularly given that my sweet tooth resembles that of a six-year-old’s. Still, I present them in order of how much I liked them, from most to least.’

Lest you think we like all chocolate that we taste here as it seems very often than not, Leona reviews a bar she most definitely didn’t at all take to: ‘Bloomsberry & Company’s The Peace On Earth box is white with a big blue peace sign splashed off-center on the front; beneath, it says “May this chocolate bring you peace (and quiet) these Holidays, if only for a moment.” Beneath that is a note that this “premium milk chocolate” bar contains 34% Cocoa.’

Care for some more chocolate to nibble on? Robert has some very good stuff for you: ‘Among the latest goodies to cross my desk are two tins of Trader Joe’s Chocolate Wedges, Dark Chocolate Caramel and Extra Dark Chocolate. Since Trader Joe’s sells everything under its own label, there’s no way to know, without doing a lot more sleuthing than I care to, who actually makes their chocolates, but the quality is generally quite good, so it’s a moot point.’

Its Autumn and an English country house murder mystery set in the time of year gets reviewed by David: ‘As traditional as the genres he chose might have been, in Altman’s hand they were turned upside-down, and sideways. Warren Beatty and Julie Christie became anti-hero and opium addict in Altman’s “western” McCabe & Mrs. Miller, set to the music of Leonard Cohen! A laconic Elliott Gould became Raymond Chandler’s private dick Phillip Marlowe in an updated LA for Altman’s “detective” classic The Long Goodbye. Robert Altman has been the most American of directors, and now, in Gosford Park, he takes on the English country house murder mystery. Altman’s Agatha Christie film? What could this mean?’David enjoyed Chris Ware’s The Acme Novelty Library #16, which typically for Ware has multiple story lines, the main one being a tale of the redheaded boy Rusty Brown, who is himself obsessed by comic books. Ware is very creative in his storytelling techniques. He uses flashbacks, dream sequences, and quick cutting. It’s all very cinematic. His drawing style is unique. He uses architecture, not just as settings but to propel the narrative. His characters have a precise look, as if the french curve and a compass were Ware’s constant companions at the drafting table. But never do the characters become ciphers.  Each character has his or her own personality.’

David follows up with a fond review of The Acme Novelty Library #17, which also follows young Rusty Brown. ‘Ware’s panels are different than what you might be used to. Unlike Peanuts (another collection of “Scenes of Early Childhood”) which start in the left and using four equal squares tells a linear tale, Ware’s work is much more cinematic. There may be a large cover shot in the centre of the page, then quick cut closeups on one side, zooming out, panning right, and the story progresses visually.’

Gary reviews Island of Noise, a new album by English singer and songwriter Jack Cooper and his band Modern Nature. It’s based on Shakespeare’s “The Tempest,” and walks the line between indie rock and jazz. ‘As ambitious a project as this was for the musicians, it requires nearly as much commitment from the listener to get the whole experience. This is the kind of project that you used to find on bombastic albums from prog rock bands, but Cooper and his collaborators always keep it down to earth, emphasizing subtlety over flair.’

Gary has high praise for Pohorylle, the debut album from Oregon country singer Margo Cilker. ‘Cilker writes and sings most potently about the joys, sorrows and dangers of a life on the road as a traveling musician – particularly for a woman. I have a hard time getting past her song “Broken Arm In Oregon,” which is all about those hazards that face women out in the world, and how much energy and time and thought they have to waste just to try to stay safe.’

Gary reviews some jazz music from a group with an odd name: ‘The Spanish jazz trio DAMUG‘s name is an acronym created from the name of pianist, composer and leader David Muñoz Guillamon. But it’s not a one-man show: the music this trio makes is a splendid example of three-way synergy as Guillamon makes lively, accessible jazz with drummer/percussionist Martí Hosta and bassist Manolo López.’

I went rambling through the archives this week looking for some English folk music. And I found some indeed, and plenty of other interesting tidbits along the way:

Donna went down something of a rabbit hole of Latvian music from the UPE Records label in that country. She starts with Kaza Kapa Debesis by the band Ilgi, which she says, ‘was founded in the early 1980s by violinist Ilga Reizniece. Although they began as a traditional folk ensemble, they have evolved into a genre they characterize as post-folk.’ And she goes on to Orkla Bolss by labelmates Laimas Muzykanti. ‘What distinguishes Laimas Muzykanti’s sound from that of Ilgi is the presence of an electric bass and two rock drummers, all mixed pretty well forward. I’m afraid the result is less than pleasing, at least on most of the tracks.’

She then went on in a separate review of Ilgi’s Isakas Nakts Dziesmas. ‘The music is based on a Latvian song cycle celebrating the summer solstice as embodied in an ancient pagan deity named Janis. Appropriate to that theme, the band held its CD release party at a park in Riga on June 13. Must have been a wild party!’

Finally Donna was flabbergasted by Ilgi’s album Ej Tu Dejot: ‘Just to make this all a bit sillier than it already is, a number of the tracks bear very non-traditional names, e.g. ‘pancakes,’ ‘hotcakes,’ ‘crepes,’ flapjacks,’ spacecakes,’ and (last but not least), ‘latkes.’ Did I already say what the…?’

Faith was nigh on ecstatic about an album called Floating Verses by the Welsh and English duo Mary Humphreys and Anahata. ‘Floating Verses is a gem of a CD — traditional English folk tunes played and sung by people who actually know how to play and sing and who have the scholarly background to know what they’re playing and singing. What a treat!’

‘The chabreta is a bagpipe equipped with an oboe and two bumblebees: the large bumblebee rests on the arm of the musician.’ Or so Jack was told by an online translation service when he was doing some research for his excellent omnibus review of bagpipe CDs from various places. You should read the review to see what the liner notes actually said.

Lars thought he didn’t care much about Danish folk music until he listened to Habbadám’s Bornholmsk Folkemusik and Sussie Nielsen’s Pigens Morgen. ‘Suddenly Danish folk music and folk-inspired music catches my ear and I must make another confession. I find myself wondering, why did I not search for this long ago?’

Lars also reported back from Uddevalla Folk Music Festival, which he says was held in the town’s museum: ‘With a small concert hall, holding up to about 200 people, one more proper stage and spaces for people to play together outside the official festival programme, it is a great place to hold a festival in.’

And that reminded us of the time Lars attended the Skagen Folk Festival in far northern Denmark, out at the tip of the Jutland peninsula: ‘During my family’s four days in Skagen we only tasted a small sample of the music on offer since we also did some travelling around to experience the wonderful north Jutland scenery. Our main intent when it came to the festival was to look for English, Irish and Scottish music, of which there was a lot.’

‘Hiring Fair has taken the bold step to release their debut album in the form of a live album, recorded during two gigs in New York in July 1999. I am not entirely convinced that this was such a brilliant idea,’ Lars says. See what he means in his review of Breakfast Anyone?

Scott called on a couple of Russian-speaking acquaintances to help him decipher the music of Russian singer-songwriter Boris Grebenshikov on a collection titled Russian Songwriter. ‘In this collection, he presents a number of his songs that characterize the Russian singer-songwriter tradition, along with his own versions of one traditional song and three covers of Russian songwriters who exerted a particularly heavy influence on him.’

Our What Not this week are four rodent puppets from Folkmanis. First up is Denise with the Mouse in Pumpkin puppet: ‘All hail the spice! Pumpkin everything is the rule of the day this time of year, and I’m all for it. Give me my pumpkin donuts, pumpkin pies,spicy roasted pumpkin, and pumpkin crumble. And okay, a PSL or two while we’re at it, though I’m more a Chestnut Praline Latte gal myself. So when Folkmanis decided to indulge my love of the orange squash, my grabby hands eagerly shot out. And I’ve been snuggling with this adorable puppet ever since.’

Our next one this outing is the Folkmanis Mouse with Cheese puppet that got overlooked when it came in 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. ’

Next is one reviewed by 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.’

He finishes off our reviews with a succinct note on this puppet: ‘The entry for the Mini Brown Mouse Finger Puppet at Folkmanis’ website reads: “The Folkmanis Mini Brown Mouse finger puppet is a pocket pet perfect to surprise your unsuspecting friends.” I see it.’

So let’s wander over to the Infinite Jukebox and see what we can find for something upbeat to usher this edition out. I think I’ll skip something from the Anglo-Celtic traditions in favour of something from France this time. The band’s Malicorne, which Gabriel and Marie Yacoub formed nearly fifty years ago.

Gabriel had been a member of Alan Stivell’s band, playing folk-rock based on Breton music such as ‘Kost Ar C´hoat’ which was performed Germany fortho six years ago, but the couple decided to focus more broadly on French trad music, which is why Steeleye Span’s the most apt comparison in British folk music to them, as both are decidedly electric folk.

So let’s now hear ‘Pierre De Grenoble’ which is also the name of what I consider their best album. It was recorded at Hunter College in New York State in July thirty five years ago.

Every book tells a different story to the person who reads it. How they perceive that book will depend on who they are. A good book reflects the reader, as much as it illuminates the author’s text. — Charles de Lint’s The Little Country

That heavenly smell is the apple cider doughnuts I’m having for breakfast with a big chunk of sharp cheddar cheese, along with a big mug of coffee with heavy cream. It’s a cold, raw day with the temperature not likely to break freezing which means the drizzle outside is coating everything with ice as it comes down. A decidedly perfect day for everyone on the Kinrowan Estate to stay to inside.

My reading this week has been an old favourite, Charles de Lint’s The Little Country, so I’ve been listening mostly to music from it as done by Zahatar on their Little Country album, plus music from Kathryn Tickell and Billy Pigg as well as Janey Little, the smallpiper in it, was inspired by them. Now let’s see what’s in this edition…

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 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.’

Gary reviews a book on the recent history of popular music, Ben Yagoda’s The B-Side: The Death of Tin Pan Alley and the Rebirth of the Great American Song. ‘Within the scope of a book that’s short enough to be interesting (and affordable) as popular non-fiction, The B-Side is a sweeping but detailed history of popular music in America in the 20th century. He shows us how the songs that make up what we now call the Great American Songbook were created through the intersections of art, commerce, technology and economics, oh, and luck; and how American songs and music changed along with those and other historical factors.’

Gary gives a glowing review to Jo Walton’s An Informal History of the Hugos, which surveys the winners of the first and most prestigious award for science fiction and fantasy content of all kinds. ‘I feel like a giant nerd for enjoying a book like this so much! But like Walton (about 10 years earlier) I started reading science fiction as a pre-teen before I even knew what science fiction was. I read a lot that excited me, a lot that interested me, and many things that left me very puzzled with questions that I didn’t even have the words or emotional maturity to formulate.’

Grey liked this novel a lot: ‘Charles de Lint’s Medicine Road stands nicely on its own as a complete story, but longtime readers of de Lint will find the story enriched by former characters, bringing the flavor of their pasts with them: Laurel and Bess, obviously, but also Bettina from Forests of the Heart. De Lint also draws on imagery and myth from Terri Windling’s lovely novel, The Wood Wife, incorporating it into his own Arizonan landscape. It’s a delight to meet the “aunts and uncles” again, to feel their watching presence from the saguaro and other ancient rooted beings here.’

Joel has a review of China Miéville 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?’

Lenora 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.’

Lory gives us a mystery set in a Britain that never existed: ‘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.’

An (un)novel set in a future Tel Aviv caught the eye of Richard: ‘Lavie Tidhar’s Central Station is barely a novel, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Instead, it’s a loosely connected series of stories featuring a rotating cast of characters, and the gently ramshackle DIY nature of the narrative structure matches up perfectly with the DIY, maker-centric vision of the world that Central Station presents.’

Warner starts off with choice offering from a master of fantasy: ‘Ray Bradbury’s Killer Come Back to Me: The Crime Stories of Ray Bradbury is a collection which brings together works truly spanning the decades of one man’s career. While relatively limited in genre compared to the overall works of Ray Bradbury, this collection puts a specific subset of his materials together for readers curious about his look into stories of detectives, murderers, thieves and the like.’

He has a choice bit of Asian fantasy for us to consider: ‘Zen Cho’s Spirits Abroad is a nice little collection of the author’s work. This expanded edition of an earlier collection brings together many interesting tales long and short. The supernatural is rife in the stories, sometimes treated as something of a fact of life. It is a mark in favor of Cho’s writing that something extremely common in western fantasy and horror can feel like an unfortunate and unusual problem.’

Last up for him is a new edition of a classic work: ‘This new Suntup edition of Replay is wonderful, reproducing a classic novel and doing so in style. The new introduction by Tim Powers is easy to appreciate, acknowledging the influence the story has had, and providing as good a reflection upon it as one is likely to get given that Ken Grimwood is no longer with us. If one collects high-end editions of books this is easy to recommend, and Replay is an easy book to recommend regardless.’

Sukkerfri Dent Duett: Berry + Licorice Pastilles found a fan in Denise: ‘ I’m an unabashed fan of black licorice. I’ve tasted (and reviewed) lots of different styles, from salty to sweet, and even covered in chocolate. (Don’t knock ’em ’til you’ve tried ’em y’all.) But licorice and berries? No, not berry flavored licorice. A mashup of black licorice and berry flavors. For those days when you can’t seem to make up your mind on what kind of taste you’re craving – which for me is just about every single day of my life – Duett has an equal amount of sweet and sweetly savory. And I’m a fan.’

For this issue, Denise also dove into a bag of Sirius Konsum’s Chocolate & Lakkris. And it seems that could be taken quite literally, “I didn’t want to review this. I wanted to grab the bag and flee into a hidden wilderness, so I could be alone with the deliciousness. … They’re more than candy, they’re comfort.” Intrigued? Well, blending chocolate and licorice is something Iceland has been doing for quite a long time, so it’s no surprise her licorice-loving heart found a new joy. Read her full review for exactly what she thought!

She finishes off with Halva’s Licorice Bars: “Both are super soft and chewy. Oh man that’s good. They both have 4% real licorice extract so you’re getting the real deal here. No anise posing. No mutton dressed as lamb. (Note: I love anise flavor too. But real licorice is…real.) Though folks worried about a dip in their potassium levels should indulge in moderation.”

We have two British mysteries this time, quite different.

Craig has our first film: ‘Nicholas Meyer adapted The Seven-Per-Cent Solution from his own novel, and he and director Herbert Ross turn out a fine Holmes pastiche. The book is even better, capturing the language as well as the different mannerisms of the characters. Meyers’ other outings were not as successful and can be skipped, but this one is a must-see (and read) for fans of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s best-known creation.’

David has our second film,  Gosford Park: ‘The film begins, as do most studies of murder in British society, by setting the tale. We meet an inordinate number of people (an Altman trait) who come and go with little logic. This is a common enough ploy in the films of Robert Altman, everyone has a reason for being there, and everyone has a story. Pay attention.’

Just because Halloween is over for another year, that doesn’t mean we’re done with all things monstrous … like vampires, for instance. Or rather, vampire slayers. Denise is our resident aficionado of Buffy graphic novels, and she’s reviewed quite a few of them:

She starts us off with Joss Whedon’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer Omnibus: Volume 1. ‘Most Buffy fans who have gotten their hands on the slew of post-BtVS Season Seven graphic novels already know that it’s a Long Way Home for Ms. Summers, but just how did this wild and crazy ride of hers start off, anyway? … there’s a ton of information in this current volume to quench many a fan’s lust for backstory.’

Denise was very pleased with the release of the first post-TV comic treatment of Buffy in Season 8 Volume One: The Long Way Home. ‘How’s Buffy doing since we saw her last? Well, she’s got over a thousand other slayers covering her back, and a host of other supernatural do-gooders (witches, seers and the like) helping out too. Plus the Watchers Council is lending aid, and if you think that’s a whole lot of help . . . it ain’t. It’s looking like the Big Bad this season will need every last one of them.’

Next, she catches up with Season 8 Volume 4, also known as Time Of Your Life: ‘Buffy, the Slayers and the Scoobs are gearing up for a showdown. As with Wolves at the Gate, make sure you are up on your Buffyverse before you tackle Time Of Your Life. I’ll go so far as to say that a reading of Fray would come in handy as well, since Melaka Fray makes a Hyped-In-Volume-Three-So-This-Ain’t-No-Spoiler appearance here.’

Coincidentally, Robert happened to review Fray for us (I’m not sure what Denise was up to the day this one came over the transom …). ‘I really have nothing but praise for this one. The story is intelligent, inventive, somewhat iconoclastic, and extraordinarily engaging, while the graphics form a seamless envelope for the narrative line. The future world here is beautifully realized, in the post-Bladerunner noir vein, complete with flying cars, disgusting slums, and creepy underground lairs.’

Back with her Season Eight coverage, Denise was less enthusiastic about Vol. 5, Predators and Prey. ‘There’s a lot of change going on, with characters shifting from old patterns of behavior, but it just ends up a volume that screams “hey look, change is afoot!” without actually making things interesting. It’s great to hang with Buffy and the crew, but I’d like a bit more to chew on.’

Gary was enchanged by new music from SUSS, a band from New York that makes “ambient country” music. ‘The Night Suite EP, which was dropped with no warning in late October, has five tracks, each named for a town on that route: Gallup, New Mexico; Flagstaff, Ash Fork, and Kingman, Arizona; and Needles, California. It’s perfect late-night listening, whether you’re on the road or not. It’s music that evokes a particular landscape. The desert Southwest of the United States. The gritty towns that you pass through late at night on your way from somewhere to somewhere else.

Laurel Premo sings and fiddles in the folk group Red Tail Ring, but her new solo album is mostly instrumental guitar music, Gary says. But not entirely. ‘Premo sings on a couple of these tracks, she plays in several different styles and with different instruments including a lap steel, and she’s accompanied by a couple of unique percussionists on three tracks as well. Golden Loam is a highly personal album but it’s also very listener friendly and welcoming.’

Gary continues his reviews of the series of Chinese folk music albums from Naxos with Vol. 17 – Folk Songs of the Tujia and Sui Peoples. These people, he says, ‘live mostly in several landlocked provinces of south-central china, the Sui in Guizhou, the Tujia in Hunan, Hubei, Guizhou and Chongqing. The folk songs of each of these groups is as distinctive as any of the music presented on other releases in this excellent series. This album has 17 songs, eight from the Tujia and nine from the Sui.’

He also reviews Vol. 18 – Folk Songs of the Uyghur Peoples, which he found quite suitable to his tastes. ‘I’m betraying my own personal preferences a bit here, but I find the  music on this album totally beguiling and fascinating. I’m much more familiar with the modes of music from the Middle East, North Africa, and Southern and Central Asia than I am with those from East Asia which comprise most of the other albums in this series. I guess I just connect with this music more readily, although I find the whole series and each individual disc interesting, at times captivating and frequently very exciting.’

Our minds seem to have turned to matters autumnal as we wandered through the archives this time, as you can see by this eclectic bunch:

David wrote up his thoughts on a couple of CDs and a DVD from the English prog group Mostly Autumn: ‘While they remind this listener of some of their influences, here of Genesis, there of Jethro Tull, and then a little Floydian guitar texture, Mostly Autumn manage to carve out their own sound from the mix. The blend of male and female vocals, the acoustic guitars punctuated by a stinging electric lead, swirling organ figures and the interweaving woodwinds create a full and wonderful sound.’

Danish folk musicians Harald Haugaard on violin and guitarist Morten Alfred Høirup teamed up on several albums, starting with Duo for Violin & Guitar, which Gary found ‘immensely enjoyable.’ He goes on to note, ‘Two of the tracks feature Haugaard’s rumbly baritone vocals. One, an old traditional poem set to a tune written by Haugaard, has a definite “smell of autumn and death,” as the liner notes point out.’

Judith reviewed a couple of obscure gems from the English folk group Roam, starting with their debut Count the Stars. ‘Roam is an acoustic folk band from Yorkshire. They’ve released a later album called Songs Of J.R.R. Tolkien, having on occasion performed dressed as elves and dwarves. Only one Tolkien song appears on Count the Stars but the sense of fantasy is yet there, wrapped in pretty arrangements.’

Roam’s next album Ragged in the Rain summoned the spirit of Phil Ochs in an epigraph of sorts, ‘In such an ugly time the true protest is beauty.’ Which Judith found puzzling. ‘Here is something perplexing: How do these songs of loneliness and sadness protest ugliness and unhappiness? Maybe the premise of the album would ring more true if the lyrics were sweeter. Perhaps the lyrics here are soldiers in Trojan horse songs, in the eternal war of human nature against dystopian content.’

Robert reviewed the New Age / World album Of Air, by Anders Hagberg and Johannes Landgren: ‘Hagberg is a jazz musician who shows equal facility on straight and transverse flutes and soprano saxophone, and has collaborated with many other musicians from many parts of the world, including Indian, Japan, Greenland and the Faroe Islands. Landgren is an organist with a degree in church music who not only teaches organ but has done considerable research on the instrument, and has recorded works ranging from the Renaissance to those of contemporary composers.’

He also took a close look at Joseph Haydn’s Die Jahreszeiten (The Seasons). ‘Not only do the seasons mark the passing of the year, they become in this work the stages of life: the bright promise of spring, also the bright promise of youth; the fullness of summer, the season of growth and maturity; the bountiful harvest of autumn, when one (ideally) enjoys the fruits of one’s life’s labors; and the chill of winter, when one sits by a crackling fire and looks back on life.’ Ah, we can identify with that last bit.

For our What not this time, Robert takes us into the realm of traditional remedies: ‘Andrew Chevallier’s The Encyclopedia of Medicinal Plants offers not only fascinating tidbits of the history of medicinal herbs, but descriptions, analysis of constituent compounds, and methods of preparation for home remedies.’ He follows up with a more specialized look: ‘James Green’s The Male Herbal: Health Care for Men and Boys is an interesting addition to the literature of alternative medicine. His focus is intentionally limited to a group that, believe it or not, could quite possibly be underserved.’

So let’s have a bit of Autumnal music in the form of ‘Red Barn Stomp’ to show us out this edition.  Recorded sometime in June of 1990 in Minneapolis by the Oysterband  with June Tabor joining them there as well for that concert though not on this piece of music. The lads were on tour in support of their Little Rock to Leipzig album where you can find another version of this tune.

Ian Tefler, a band member, tells us that the name of this piece was chosen to sound trad though he notes to us it isn’t. It features John Tefler calling the tune and very neatly incorporates the actually trad tune, ‘The Cornish Six-Hand Reel’ in it as well.

I forbid you maidens all that wear gold in your hair
To travel to Carterhaugh for young Tam Lin is there
None that go by Carterhaugh but they leave him a pledge
Either their mantles of green or else their maidenhead

Fairport Convention’s ‘Tam Lin’

It’s quite cold and blustery here on this Scottish Estate so we’re all thankful that the Fey provide the lighting for the exterior pumpkins, as candles of a conventional nature wouldn’t stay lit at all, but the lighting of a supernatural nature is perfect. We here on the Estate and invited guests will be celebrating by attending a concert by the Neverending Session  in which they perform Halloween music.

Roast pumpkin soup, sourdough rolls shaped like skulls, cinnamon-spiced pork hand pies and nutmeg-spiced pumpkin ice cream will be our eventide meal tonight which will be perfect for working off when we have a midnight contradance by Chasing Fireflies, which tonight is Ingrid, our Steward, on hand drums, Bela, our Hungarian violinist, Finch, one of our barkeeps, on Border smallpipes and Iain, our Librarian on violin.

Andrea reviewed Marion Dane Bauer and Trina Schart Hyman’s Ghost Eye, a tale of ghosts, cat shows and lonely little girls. Ghosts?! Not to worry, it’s a charming children’s book, she says. ‘It’s really just a sweet story about a lonely old lady who loved cats and a lonely little girl who would like to have a cat to love. The illustrations are fun as well, especially if one likes pictures of cats. I loved reading this book and have recommended it to friends and family of all ages.’

April introduces us to an intriguing bit of metafiction, if you will, David Barbour and Richard Raleigh’s Shadows Bend: ‘Imagine, if you will, Conan the Barbarian taking on Cthulhu and its inhuman minions, with the fate of the world at stake. Quite an image, isn’t it? Admittedly, it does sound like something you’d find in a straight-to-video movie, or some obscure animated feature. But if you’re a fan of either Conan or Cthulhu, it also sounds like a heck of a lot of fun.’

Cat recalls that time he received a package from Tor containing the latest installment in the Repairman Jack series: ‘I opened the package, took out The Haunted Air, and sort of read the first few pages. Well, I actually read the first fifty or so pages by the time I stopped. Hot damn — Wilson’s rediscovered horror! And I mean horror! Blood sacrifices! Restless ghosts! Demons from beyond this reality! And a good dollop of violence to boot. All the benchmarks of a classic Repairman Jack novel.’ His review contains a link to his omnibus review of  previous books in the series, which you should also check out.

Horror meets cyberpunk in Ernest Hogan’s Smoking Mirror Blues, a wild ride that Cat reviews for us. Briefly, he says, in this book ‘… the citizens of Los Angeles are preparing to celebrate Dead Daze, a bacchanalian rave of a holiday that’s an over-the-top merging of All Hallows Eve, the Mexican Day of the Dead, and Mardi Gras. The reawakened Aztec god Tezcatlipoca, riding the body of a human, is feeling quite well, thank you!’

Leona has opinions about the audiobook of Roger Zelazny’s A Night In The Lonesome October, read by the author himself. But first, for those unfamiliar with the story, is her delightful plot summary: ‘Jack the Ripper, Sherlock Holmes, Count Dracula, and Frankenstein all walk into a small village … and no, that’s not the setup for a bad bar joke, although Zelazny drops in at least two deftly placed alcohol-related puns. No, these characters are all part of a split conspiracy; some want to invite the Elder Gods back into the world, others to deny them that entrance. Calling themselves, respectively, Openers and Closers, none of the characters are entirely nice folks, which is standard for a Zelazny story (and one of the things I love most about his writing).’

Richard reminds us of the classic horror tale by Ray Bradbury: ‘By right and nature, all October babies should love Something Wicked This Way Comes. It is a love letter to autumn, and to the Halloween season in particular, a gorgeous take on maturity and self-acceptance and all the dark temptations that come crawling ‘round when the calendar creeps close to October 31st.’

Richard takes a deep dive into an anthology edited by Christopher Golden, The Monster’s Corner: Stories Through Inhuman Eyes. ‘The concept – a collection of stories that show monsters as sympathetic, not heroic – is tricky enough on its own, a long step into more mature territory than the too-prevalent vampiric moping that’s meant to let us know that bloodsuckers really aren’t such bad people. Then, throw in Golden’s restriction on the subject matter – no low-hanging fruit, i.e. no vampires or zombies – and things get really interesting.’

Richard looked at another monstrous anthology: ‘In the introduction to Those Who Fight Monsters: Tales of Occult Detectives, editor Justin Gustainis makes a case for the fact that really, anyone who goes around hunting monsters in a real-worldish setting falls under the broad rubric of “occult detective.” After all, they’re looking for monsters to kill, which means detecting them, and those monsters are certainly occult, so there you have it. ‘

Richard also reviewed The Anubis Murders, a fantasy mystery by Gary Gygax, better known as one of the creators of Dungeons & Dragons. ‘The premise of the book starts out promisingly enough, with a pack of too-friendly nobles and magical types from the fair isle of Avillon. They’ve journeyed hundreds of miles to ask Master Inhetep to look into some deeply unpleasant magical murders. The kicker is that the murders seem to implicate the jackal-headed god Anubis, who generally doesn’t go in for that sort of thing. Needless to say, there’s more to this than meets the eye, and all sorts of wacky hijinks ensue.’

Denise has many a Halloween treat – and one trick – for us all this fine day. First off, she digs into a Cadbury Screme Egg. No, not creme. SCREME. ‘I recommend splitting an Egg with a friend, or saving a half for later. I’ve done the stomach work, so you don’t have to overindulge. Unless that’s your thing. Then? Happy Halloween!’

Next, she indulges in a four pack of Chocolats Passion Skulls. ‘The attention to detail is staggering; I can barely draw a straight line, yet these beauties have red in their sockets, golden teeth, and a splash of gold on the “parietal” that could be the sun glinting on them…or the reason for their demise. Six of one, half dozen of the other, I say.’

Need a drink after all that candy? Denise obliges with Flying Cauldron’s Butterscotch Beer! (We don’t dig TERFs here, but we do dig interesting mythology…and soda.) ‘Flying Cauldron’s Butterscotch Beer is a light, fizzy soda that’s non-alcoholic, for the wee muggles/no-mags in your life. Don’t think that means adults won’t like it, however. As cream-esque sodas go, it’s not that sweet.’

Aiming for something savory rather than sweet? Denise’s review of Aldi’s Happy Farms Preferred Transylvanian-Romanian Cave Cheese is sure to satisfy. ‘There are two types on offer, the regular and “soaked in red wine.” Naturally, the wine version went into my tote.’

Last but not least, a treat that was more of a trick for our stalwart foodie; Dunkin’ Donuts’ Spider Donut. ‘Impressive, no? No. It’s a mess. Somewhere, Mary Berry is sobbing.’

Whatever you decide to eat and drink this fine Halloween, have a wonderfully spooky time!

Denise here. Shh, don’t tell Cat, but I’ve hijacked this edition’s film section. Because what’s better on Halloween than a look at some spooky films? Ready? Let’s go! *cue spooky background music*

First off, The Exorcism of Emily Rose, a mix of possession horror and courtroom drama. ‘As children, we all thought about things living in our closet, underneath the bed, or in the basement. Dark, scary things that made us jump into bed, calling for our parents when things became too much to bear. As we got older, creaks in the stairs late at night gave us the chills, and we called out to friends or told ourselves that it wasn’t anything but a sure sign of shoddy home craftsmanship. But are those things signs of the devil among us?’

Next up, something a bit more fun and action-y; Underworld Evolution. ‘This is a good film that only suffers from the potential the first film laid out. A common curse with many sequels, but one that doesn’t harm the basic story of this film . . . if that’s all you’ve got.’

Something for the kiddies, perhaps? Why not try The Haunted Mansion? ‘Stir it up, keep it loud, and everyone will think they’re watching something really cool…. This is a lovely film to look at, but there’s not a lot of substance. Just double-check to make sure any young children you take are up for a pretty good scare.’

And last, but certainly not least, Halloween III. Because the OG Halloween has been done to death, so why not check out the sequel that’s not really a sequel, now that Halloween Kills is currently in theaters? This film’s divisive as hell, but I sure did enjoy myself writing up my thoughts…and though it’s grown on me since, I stand by my words when I first watched this film. ‘There are some reviews that are meant to have you rush to the theater. Others will leave you to decide whether or not to head out to the multiplex (or rent the video). Then there are reviews that serve as warnings, specifically designed to save the movie viewing public unnecessary pain and agony. This review falls into the latter category.’

This nation shaped the British Empire every bit as much as the British shaped India over the centuries of of oftimes brutal occupation. Peter Milligan’s John Constantine: Hellblazer India says Cat as this story ‘neatly plays off the British experience in India and what happens when that experience takes a horrible turn into the supernatural world that Constantine knows all too well.’ And the Big Bad in it is definitely a true horror.

Robert has a look at a suitably scary graphic novel from a story originally penned by Robert E. Howard: ‘Pigeons from Hell is an adaptation by Joe R. Lansdale of a story by Robert E. Howard, with art by Nathan Fox and color by Dave Stewart. Lansdale is at pains to point out, in his “Notes from the Writer,” that it is really an “adaptation” — updated, exploring some new facets of Howard’s story, and not to be confused with the original, all of which leads me to treat it as its own creature.’

And what would Halloween be without demons and ghosties and that sort of thing? Well, that’s what we get with the latest incarnation of John Constantine, in Hellblazer, Vol. 1: The Poison Truth. Says Robert: ‘I’ll be honest: John Constantine is not a comic book hero who has ever really grabbed me. I can’t think of any particular reason for that, unless it’s his rapid-fire delivery and glib personality. Maybe it’s because he’s a sociopath, and I’ve learned to be wary of those — even comics. (It’s a wonder how many of the characters in this collection really don’t like Constantine very much, but they go along with him.)’

Pushing aside the cobwebs and entering the music archives, we came up with reviews of music ghostly, bewitched and pagan in nature, as you’ll see:

Christopher reviewed a disc whose title seems promising: Ghosts & Spirits, by The Band from County Hell. It didn’t pan out too well, though: ‘I wish I could be more enthusiastic, but found myself thinking how generic the disk seemed, generic as in musical genre. Here is a modern era, rollicking, rowdy pub and festival Celtic band that might go down nicely with a pint or two of stout, but I struggled to find anything that truly set them apart from dozens of other practitioners.’

David enjoyed an album by Dog Cox & Sam Hurrie, who he said played regularly at a pub in Comox, British Columbia. ‘Hungry Ghosts is one of those albums that just sidles up alongside you and makes itself at home. It’s mainly just Sam and Doug, playing a variety of guitars, with some vocals and lots of mood.

Faith had an ‘Occasionally weird, but interesting’ encounter with a spoken word recording, Steven Posch’s Radio Paganistan: Folktales of the Urban Witches. ‘The liner notes explain how Minneapolis has come to be the Pagan heartland of the USA, and how Steven Posch came to be there. They also tell how he came to write the stories, songs and poems. The illustrations run from very old woodcuts to photos of a shirtless man in a mask (presumably Posch), and one photo of him with his shirt and without the mask.

Gary says there’s nothing monstrous about the self-titled album by M. Ward, Conor Oberst (Bright Eyes) and Yim Yames (a.k.a. Jim James of My Morning Jacket), who call themselves Monsters of Folk. ‘This album seems like a loving homage to the music of the Baby Boomers: Neil’s dusty wheatfield soul, The Beatles’ r&b-inspired pop and layered harmonies, a little Philly Soul, some Gram Parsons psychedelic country-rock and even a fairly explicit homage to that other rootsy ubergroup the Traveling Wilburys.’

Patrick sings the praises of Ghostdance, the eighth album by American Indian musician Bill Miller. ‘Miller, a Mohican-German raised on the Stockbridge-Munsee Reservation in northern Wisconsin, makes music that is an uncanny combination of rock ‘n’ roll, folk and native, classical and contemporary. His sound seems influenced as much by Neil Young as it is by the traditional songs he sang as a child.’

We got a bit of a history lesson when Peter reviewed a disc titled Ireland – A Troubled Romance, by a band called ‘… Henry Marten’s Ghost, a strange name for a band you might think, but not when you read the cover notes and realise that the band was born out of Oxford, England. Henry Marten, born in Oxford, was one of the signatories on the death warrant for King Charles I. He was a Parliamentarian who supported the cause of the Irish during Cromwell’s invasions. For urging peace with the Irish, Henry Marten was tried and imprisoned for treason in Chepstow castle, where he died in 1680.’ The album’s subtitle is Irish Ballads, and that’s what you get, he says.

Peter also reviewed High On Spirits by the same band, which he says is an honest working Irish band. ‘Truly, this is the real thing as you can expect to hear in almost any folk club or Irish bar in the U.K. today. This is reflected in the band’s choice of material on the album. In short, the songs and tunes are all tried and tested standards. They are the songs you “the public” like to hear and can easily identify with — good listening!’

Robert says it once was common to create operas from fairy tales, and Humperdinck’s Hansel und Gretel fits that mold. Even though this was probably originally staged during the winter holidays and not Hallowe’en, we’re highlighting it here because, as Robert notes, it has a really monstrous witch: ‘…the Gingerbread Witch, who throws children into her oven where they become gingerbread, which she then eats.’ He also notes, ‘Humperdinck made extensive use of folk melodies in the score, which certainly adds to the opera’s charm (I don’t think anyone would not recognize the music to “Ra-la-la,” the dance song in the first act), and the story, of course, is well-known.’

Speaking of witches in opera, Robert also enjoyed this recording of Philip Glass and Beni Montresor’s The Witches of Venice, although he says it’s helpful to actually see the opera. ‘There is an element of absurdity here, some broad comedy, and some delightful moments that can only be described as “camp.” There are also moments of truly affecting pathos, most notably in “The Plant-Boy’s Song,” which is not something that I would normally expect from Glass.’

Our What Not this time is about the Folkmanis Puppets of an Autumnal Nature, or at least that’s how Cat defined them. They were the ones Cat asked Folkmanis specifically to send and then he handed off to various staff members for review. So here’s the review of these wonderful puppets which though not quite fitting All Hallows’ Eve are still worth your time.

The Worm in Apple puppet gets reviewed by Robert: ‘One of the more unusual items to cross my desk from Folkmanis is their Worm in Apple Puppet. It’s a nice, big apple — not shiny, since it’s made of plush, but it is very appealing — unless you count the small green worm peeping out of a hole in the side.’

Next up Denise looks at the  the Chipmunk in Watermelon puppet. While she’s as entranced as ever by this company’s creations, there’s one quibble. ‘Mine looks as if he’s suffering from agoraphobia. Exo-karpoúzi-phobia, maybe?’ Read her review to find out what’s going on…

She finishes off with the Mouse in Pumpkin puppet: ‘All hail the spice! Pumpkin everything is the rule of the day this time of year, and I’m all for it. Give me my pumpkin donuts, pumpkin pies, spicy roasted pumpkin, and pumpkin crumble. And okay, a PSL or two while we’re at it, though I’m more a Chestnut Praline Latte gal myself. So when Folkmanis decided to indulge my love of the orange squash, my grabby hands eagerly shot out. And I’ve been snuggling with this adorable puppet ever since.’

Very long after the band recorded Leige and Leif, which Deborah plays proper homage to in, “Trad Boys, Trad Boys, Whatcha Gonna Do….?” Liege & Lief remembered, Fairport Convention played the entire album live at their own summer bash, the ‘07 Cropredy Festival. Everyone who was on the 1969 recording save Sandy Denny who had passed on was on stage so with Chris While doing the vocals for this epic experience. The soundboard recording is stellar, so here’s ‘Tam Lin’ as performed by them on that warm summer night.