A Green Man Review

I overheard Cat and Robert debating in our Pub over who was the best stylist when writing fantasy currently. Cat choose Brokedown Palace as reviewed by Robert to bolster his contention that Steven Brust was the best, but Robert added a number of other others including Ellen Kushner. You can read Cat’s review of The Swords of Riverside audiobook for a look at how great she is.

Glen Cook was another writer cited by Robert, and an early work of his, A Matter of Time, was well regarded by him: Cook, as he says here, ‘at that stage of his career was an mesmerizing writer.’  Cat agreed with Peter Beagle, the final writer on Robert’s list, whose Tamsin is reviewed here.

Wen Spencer’s Japanese based fantasy, Eight Million Gods, was well received by Cat:  ‘It’s very important that you know that we receive for review far too many titles a month here at Green Man Review to expect they’ll get reviewed, and that an increasing number of number of those titles are digital copies which mean they end up on nthe Infinite Library, my iPad, where they reside until I look at them. And my rule, which is very firm, is that a novel must interest me enough by the end of the first chapter or I won’t read it.’ Read  his review to see why this novel made the cut.

Kestrell has a choice bit of horror for you: ‘As a horror fan in the twenty-first century isn’t easy, especially if you prefer the literary vein of horror over the more violent and gory variety. For those horror fans searching for the sort of atmospheric stories reminiscent of M. R. James and Algernon Blackwood, I would point you to F. G. Cottam’s The Magdalena Curse.’

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.’

Kim liked the manner in which magic was illustrated in a certain beloved  novel ‘This is a magical book, and the finest of Alan Garner’s young adult novels. Now, a lot of people associate magic with ethereal forces, great quests and spells and all that, and indeed spells can be found in several of Garner’s other books. The Owl Service reveals a different kind of magic, the kind that arises from the interaction of people with patterns, of desires that unwittingly mesh with the larger forces around us, harsh magic that people employ without knowing it.

A novel by Tanya Huff found favour with Robert: ‘The Enchantment Emporium  is the first volume in what I find myself hoping will become an extended series.’ His review details why this was so. Oh, and yes, a series was indeed what would happen!

Robert takes a look at ParaNorman, an animated feature with a lot of charm and some controversy: ‘All in all, if you can tap into the seven year old that is hiding in you somewhere, it’s a very satisfying film. It occurs to me that the denouement could have been more than a little treacly, but it avoids the saccharine neatly, giving us a comforting finish — although not without a little barbed humor.’

We like chocolate a lot here, as you can tell from our reviews of many things chocolate, and we’re always pleased to see a new way of appreciating it, but even I was surprised by the amazingly good dessert Mrs. Ware and her Kitchen staff served up this past eventide meal: dark chocolate bread pudding with cardamon flavored ice cream! Sounds weird but actually tasted great!

Now  I suggest we  had down to the Kitchen as there’s Toll House cookies right out of the oven being offered up with eggnog per the recipe of Jennifer, one of our Winter Queens offered up once upon a Winter evening.

Amy Stewart’s book might be a novel from its title but as Gary notes ‘No, it’s not a murder mystery or a light romantic comedy. The Drunken Botanist is a botanical exploration of “The plants that create the world’s great drinks,” as its subtitle says.’

Not all chocolate we get is to the favor of our reviewers. And that’s what happened when Robert received three  bars from the Irish branch of Cadbury: ‘I’ve perhaps gotten spoiled by the opportunity to sample a range of high-quality chocolates, including a range of milk and dark chocolates in which chocolate comes first. It should serve as a word to the wise that the first two ingredients listed for each of these candies are milk and sugar…’

Robert gives us some thoughts on a manga that isn’t, really: ‘It’s a little strange for someone who’s become addicted to Japanese comics, which generally use character designs that partake of no particular ethnicity (aside from the occasional parody of Utamaro), to read a comic in which the characters are identifiably Japanese. In the case of Crossing Midnight, there’s good reason for that: the story takes place in Nagasaki and Tokyo, and the main characters are a brother and sister who’ve gotten entangled with some rather difficult kami (spirits, we’d call them).’

Donna looks at a well-known Scottish artist: ‘Now in his early sixties, Scottish folk musician Brian McNeill has been performing traditional and writing traditionally-inspired music since the late 1960s, when he co-founded the Battlefield Band.  Two of these three CDs are representative of some of his more recent work.  The third, The Road Never Questions, is a compilation of his work from earlier recordings.’

The now defunct Tinker’s Own released two albums as a band that Grey thinks has great pieces but which she says that: ‘If I have any criticism of these two albums, it is that they make me wish I could hear The Tinker’s Own live. “Some criticism!” you may be thinking. Well, hear me out. While sad airs and contemplative tunes can easily be listened to alone, humorous and rousing songs seem to require good company to have their full effect. They call for the ability to catch a friend’s eye across the table and grin; or to raise your mug in a cheer; or to banter with the band members; or to stand, linking elbows with your fellows and roaring out the chorus. Without this sort of companionship, they fall curiously flat.’

Lars looks at Old North State,  a release by a much loved Americana group: ‘Red Clay City Ramblers have been going for more than 40 years, but somehow they have slipped under my radar in spite of releasing lots of records, touring internationally and taking part in many theatre productions. The title of this CD is in celebration of their home state North Carolina, and on the web page it is described as a “North Caroliniana” record.’

He also looked at Scotland is Free: ‘It feels a little strange reviewing a CD titled ”Scotland is Free” a few months after the Scottish people voted ”no” in the referendum about breaking free from Great Britain. But in defence of Mr Morrison I must admit the CD was recorded and released well before the referendum.’

Gary looks at Shift and Shadow from a group with an eclectic sound: ‘XIXA, a new group out of Tucson, Arizona, plays music known as chicha. Chicha started as a working-class form of cumbia, using cumbia’s rhythm but largely played in Andean-style pentatonic scales and incorporating electric “rock” instruments and a host of other influences, much the way Tropicalia blended many Brazilian and international styles in the 1960s.’

Into The Silence, Israeli-born jazz trumpeter Avishai Cohen’s first ECM outing as a leader, is a ‘meditative album inspired by the death of his father in late 2014,’ Gary notes. ‘This recording was one of those that slowly grew on me as I listened to it on repeat.’

Gary rounds out our music reviews with a look at a re-release of tasty bluegrass music in the form of Ralph Stanley & the Clinch Mountain Boys’ The Complete Jessup Recordings Plus! Featuring Ricky Skaggs & Keith Whitley: ‘What a treat this collection is. Real Gone Music has re-released on two CDs three obscure LPs from the early 1970s when Keith Whitley and Ricky Skaggs first joined Ralph Stanley & the Clinch Mountain Boys. The titles originally were released on the small Michigan-based label Jessup and (the “Plus!” of the title) the Dayton, Ohio-based Jalyn.’

Hmmmm… What would be fitting to end with musically speaking? Let’s listen to the Taraf De Haïdouks’s Hora Moldovenesca from the 2014 Førde Traditional and World Music Festival 25th Anniversary Sampler. It’s most likely the Central European equivalent of the ‘trad. arranged’ appellation in Celtic music as the name’s simply translated as ‘Moldovian dance’.

Of Lovers, Gamblers and Parachute Skirts, their latest album, is reviewed by Donna here; you’ll find our review by her of Band of Gypsies 2, an album whitch they did recently with  Kočani Orkestar thisaway .

In the bleak midwinter Frosty wind made moan, Earth stood hard as iron, Water like a stone; Snow had fallen, snow on snow, Snow on snow, In the bleak midwinter, Long ago. — Christina Rossetti

Ahhh there you are. Have some tea, it’s quite excellent as it always is here at Kinrowan Hall.

That lovely piece being played right now is the Penguin Cafe Orchestra’s ‘Numbers 1 – 4’ from their performance at the Glastonbury Festival on the 26th of June, 1994. Good music along with a cup of freshly brewed tea, lapsang souchong to be precise, as it’s my favourite right now, with a splash of cream but no sugar, is the proper way for me to get started in the morning.

Lest I forget, I want to tell you about a skulk, a group of foxes, I saw yesterday down by the copse where Gus, our much more than just Estate Head Gardener, feeds the Estate foxes. I see that Blaze, the one that lost his eye in a fight and has a vivid white scar on his side where an owl clawed him, is consuming a rabbit Gus left. Must be at least his tenth Winter, a good run for a fox even with the care that Gus gives them.

Now why don’t you get a cup of that tea while I go back to finishing this Edition? I’m sure you’ll find much of interest in it.

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

Though Denise and Blodeuwedd continue to rage The War Of Best Seat (see our What Not below for the details on this), Denise still managed to take a look at the newest book from Ann Brashares, The Whole Thing Together.  Brashares may be known as the author of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, but there is plenty to love about this new book as well.  While Denise couldn’t walk away without a minor quibble (she is a quibbler after all), “it socked me right in the heart and I couldn’t put it down. I’m betting you won’t be able to either.”

The manor house and the woods that surround that A.A. Milne lived in as that inspired the tales of Pooh and friends is for sale for a staggering number of pounds, but for considerably less you can read  The Red House Mystery, a classic English manor house novel by him that gets a look-see by Lory: ‘The story is not really a “whodunit” — the “who” is pretty clear from the outset — the question is “how” and, even more, “why” he did it, and Milne keeps us guessing until the end. The plausibility of the solution is not one that would hold up to heavy scrutiny, but the pleasure lies not in the verisimilitude of the puzzle but in the ingenuity of its construction and unravelling, and the witty repartee among the characters.’

Robert brings us two books by Edgar Pangborn, one of science-fiction’s little-known greats. First, a look at Davy, which Robert sums up simply: ‘It’s a brilliant book, racy, pungent, tremendously affecting, and totally captivating, a masterpiece by one of science fiction’s most original and singular voices.’`

Next, somewhat less rollicking but equally substantial, is A Mirror For Observers: ‘Edgar Pangborn was one of a small handful of science-fiction writers of the 1950s and early 60s who tackled the big questions at a time when the genre was still largely pulp. Like so many of his colleagues, he was a satirist — the genre seems to lend itself particularly well to social commentary — who approached his subject, the human condition, from many angles.’

Robert takes a look at a graphic novel that purports to be history, Vlad the Impaler: The Man Who Was Dracula: ‘The graphic novel Vlad the Impaler, by Sid Jacobson with art by Ernie Colón, is an attempt to relate the story of Vlad’s amazingly short career as ruler of Wallachia — he only occupied the throne at intervals between 1456 and 1462.’

Cat has for us a film perfectly suited for Winter viewing: ‘I don’t do movie theatres for various reasons including audiences that chatter too much and the smell of that weird stuff that’s not really butter. And it is that I’m watching an animated film released several Christmas seasons past called Rise of The Guardians which features a Russian Father Christmas, an Australia Easter Bunny (complete with boomerang), The Sandman, and a really cut in a fey female Tooth Fairy. All Guardians of the hopes, wishes and dreams of children everywhere.’

One of the questions we’ve asked frequently to staff and visitors alike is what they like for breakfast. Here’s Patrick O’Donnell answer in which he says varies his breakfast very little ’round the year: ‘Same as my summertime one: a few thick slices of bacon, a few nice sausage links, one or two eggs sunny-side up with the yellow runny but the white firm, some baked beans, some stewed tomatoes, some mushrooms, perhaps some hashbrowns, and a few thick slices of buttered toast. Finish it all off with some black coffee strong enough to make your toes curl and perhaps, if there’s room, something sweet. And of course, there’s always second breakfast, so leave room for that. . . .’

Gary admits that he’s ‘a little embarrassed to say that Michael Chapman’s new album 50 is my first exposure to this nonpariel British guitarist, singer and songwriter. After all, he gets name-checked alongside such greats as Richard Thompson, Bert Jansch and Davy Graham, and the title of this album commemorates his 50 years as a touring musician whose work has crossed, or rather eschewed, genres.’ Now read his review for all the details on this artist and his album.

Up for a tasty bit of roots music? If so, this recording should suit you just fine: ‘If you like American roots music, you’ll love Rayna Gellert’s Workin’s Too Hard. Listen to this album, and watch for her at a festival near you.’

We promised you music by the Penguin Cafe Orchestra — which we’ve provided, not only above but as our coda for today — but we also thought you might like a bit more information. First, Robert has a look at what we’ll take as the definitive history of the group — since it’s the only history of the group: ‘The Penguin Café Orchestra: A History is just that (although arguably it is as much a history of Simon Jeffes, but Jeffes and the Orchestra are so inextricably intertwined that I’m not prepared to argue the matter).’

He follows up with the orchestra’s Concert Program: ‘I really, really hate it when my arsenal of comparisons, parallels, antecedents and influences doesn’t work. It is one of my chief means, as a reviewer, of giving my audience a handle, an entrée, so to speak, into something that may be new and more or less foreign to their experience. . . . Imagine my discomfiture when faced with Penguin Cafe Orchestra’s Concert Program.’

And, while it may seem quite a departure, Robert has another installment — or two — in the series Gamelan of Central Java, these titled “Pangkur I” and “Pangkur II”: ‘“Pangkur” denotes a kind of music in the Javanese classical canon that can take many forms — sung poetry, court dances, and many other idioms — and can be performed in either slendro or pelog scales. It is perhaps the most versatile and unpredictable form to come out of the Javanese classical tradition.’

Let’s have a look at a favourite reading space for our What Not this time as Denise has a small charmer of a spot as she alluded to her book review note above: ‘My favorite spot to read is a tiny rounded nook that’s just off the passage between the kitchen and the library. I sit on a large, overstuffed cushion on the floor, where I battle for supremacy with Blodeuwedd, who has decided that since I found her, I’m responsible for her . . . and her comfort.

We usually find a happy compromise. Blod usually sits in the middle of the cushion, and all the mathematical formulas in the world couldn’t find the dead center of that cushion with more accuracy. After she gets comfy, I pack myself tightly underneath the little stained-glass window and lean myself back on the cool stone wall, which is a nice counterpoint to the heat of the kitchen.

Cracking the window a bit gives a nice breeze and plenty of light for daytime reading. Being near the kitchen has its pluses and minuses; the kitchen staff often peek in and ask me to taste new recipes if they know I’m about. I keep hoping they’ll ask for my opinion of the wild mushroom and barley stew again, but the haggis omelet flambe was something even Blod was glad to see the back of.’

Let’s finish off with another piece from their performance on that day at Glastonbury. ‘Organum’ like the ‘Numbers 1 – 4’ can be found on Concert Program, their 1995 album, which is reviewed above.

Endings are rubbish. They’re only the place where you choose to stop talking. — The Narrator in Catherynne Valente’s The Girl Who Raced Fairyland All the Way Home

Come in, we’re almost ready for you to read this edition, but first have a drink. As always, this edition’s just one of many going back decades, which is why you’ll find material that appeared quite some time back, say a review of a book still beloved but then still to come out when the review was written from a galley provided by the publisher.

Back then, all galleys of forthcoming books and preview CDs were physical, none of these services like NetGalley existed, which is why we got delivered to us all ten hardcover volumes of Tolkien’s The History of Middle-earth, or that Fairport Unconventional box set.

Oh, we still get many deliveries, but I‘ll frankly admit that I do miss the days when our Mail Room brownies here on this Scottish Estate sorted through the weekly postal delivery and put things into staff postal boxes based on their somewhat eccentric beliefs of what should go where. Now let’s see what piqued the interest of the editors this time…
For your winter reading pleasure, we have A.A. Milne’s The Red House Mystery, a classic English manor house novel that gets looked at by Lory: ‘The story is not really a “whodunit” — the “who” is pretty clear from the outset — the question is “how” and, even more, “why” he did it, and Milne keeps us guessing until the end. The plausibility of the solution is not one that would hold up to heavy scrutiny, but the pleasure lies not in the verisimilitude of the puzzle but in the ingenuity of its construction and unravelling, and the witty repartee among the characters.’

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

And more Zelazny, again from Robert, this time Creatures of Light and Darkness: ‘Among his other virtues, Roger Zelazny was as willing to experiment with narrative structures as he was with thematic content. This wasn’t a constant thing — most of his writings fit into a standard naturalistic narrative framework quite easily — but one catches glimpses in, for example, the “traveling” passages in Nine Princes in Amber. Creatures of Light and Darkness, published in book form in 1970, shows Zelazny at his most inventive, formally and thematically.’

Scott has for us a review of Untangling Tolkien: A Chronology and Commentary for The Lord of the Rings, a book that has some serious flaws. Michael Perry’s book is a mixed bag for Scott: ‘Perry intends the book to serve as a reference to The Lord of the Rings, enabling the reader to get a better sense of what events happened simultaneously in the story, where in Tolkien’s writings a particular event is described, and a deeper appreciation of the structural coherence of Tolkien’s work. Untangling Tolkien generally succeeds in these regards, especially the latter; this book is essentially an exposition on Tolkien’s attention to chronological detail. Unfortunately, the book also gives every appearance of having been put together in great haste, as though the publishers were more concerned with releasing the book by a certain date than with presenting the best possible book.’

Kage loved video with a fierce devotion that showed in her reviews, as we see here with her lead-in to the Bruce Campbell’s Jack of All Trades series that gleefully screwed historic accuracy royally in favour of a more entertaining story: ‘In the soul of every history geek, there is a hidden volume wherein are listed the names of History Geek Guilty Pleasures. Don’t try to deny it, fellow history geeks; you know it’s true.’

A writer by the name Elizabeth found something very much to her liking in Dean’s Sweets: ‘Portland seems to me one of the quintessential New England seacoast towns. With its long streets of red masonry buildings and its quirky alleyways, coffee shops, and squares, it’s a fine place to spend a wandering day. It makes sense to me that one of the best local New England chocolates I’ve tried should make its home here.’

I’ve got a whisky that I think you should try. It’s Toiteach, which is a wonderfully peaty single malt from the Bunnahabhain distillery. Served neat with neither water nor ice is how we do it, as there’s no single malts here that shouldn’t be appreciated that way. If you’re interested in knowing more about Scots whiskys, take a look at the review by Stephen of the late Iain Bank’s Raw Spirit: In Search of The Perfect Dram as I believe it’s simply the best look at single malts ever done.

Muzsikas’ The Bartók Album gets an appreciative look by Brendan, who also reviewed Bartok’s Yugoslav Folk Music which you’ll see connects intrinsically to this recording: ‘During a recent festival in celebration of the works of Béla Bartók — one of this century’s most important musical composers — at Bard College, the Hungarian tradition revivalist band Muzsikas discovered that many people were quite familiar with Bartok’s classical compositions while being quite ignorant of the Hungarian folk musical traditions that inspired much of those compositions.’

Of Many Languages, One Soul Gary notes that ‘If you at all like instrumental music from southeastern Europe, if you enjoy the sound and versatility of the clarinet, or if you just like wildly eclectic international music – personally, all three describe me – then this Balkan Clarinet Summit disc is a must-have.’

Gary also reviews a new album by American singer-songwriter Mary Gauthier. Rifles & Rosary Beads is a collection of songs co-written with service members who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, and their loved ones, through the auspices of a project called Songwriting With Soldiers.

An career-spanning tribute album to Captain Beefheart? Gary says Nona Hendryx and Gary Lucas’s The World of Captain Beefheart is pretty good. ‘It’s great to hear these reverent but not by-the-numbers covers of Captain Beefheart tunes.’

Scott Allen Nollen’s Jethro Tull: A History of the Band, 1968-2001 gets a superb look-see by Kate: ‘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 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.’

Robert picked Tummel’s Payback Time as his recommended recording  this outing: ‘Think about the band playing on while the Titanic goes down. Think of some of Joel Gray’s bitchier numbers in Cabaret. Think of Josephine Baker at her most outrageous taking Paris by storm. Think of a bunch of crazy Swedes with no inhibitions whatsoever getting together and letting everyone have it, right between the eyes. That might give an inkling of the tone of Tummel’s Payback Time.’

Every s often we ask folks which work by Tolkien they liked best. Here’s how one writer, James Stoddard, responded: ‘Is this a trick question? The Lord of the Rings is a masterpiece in so many ways. I recently listened to a reading of the trilogy on CD. Despite having read the book five or six times, I was amazed at how it kept my attention. Only the Council of Elrond chapter flags a bit for me. I see the work differently every time I read it. I thought Sam a silly fellow when I read the book as a fifteen-year-old; now his constant loyalty invariably moves me. But the best part of many excellent scenes is at the Crossroads–the thrown down head of the statue of the ancient king, garlanded with flowers, a single ray of sunlight shining on the shattered visage. ‘They cannot conquer forever,’ Frodo says, and my eyes always unexpectedly mist over. It is the book’s theme, captured in four words. Brilliant.’

For this week’s Coda, Robert brings us a clip from an artist who was new to him — ‘Although,” he says, “I have a feeling we’re going to be hearing a lot more from him. I first ran across Sufjan Stevens in the soundtrack to Call Me By Your Name, in which he has three songs, two written for the film and one remix, which are compelling, to say the least — the combination of Stevens’ ethereal vocals and rich instrumentation, which seems to be a hallmark of his work, is immediately engaging. At the risk of introducing a spoiler, here’s ’Visions of Gideon,’ which closes the movie. I won’t say more, except to caution you to brace yourself.’