What’s New for the 1st of February: Kage Baker retrospective; new Americana, Buddhist chants and Finnish songs, new and reissued jazz, and more

Posted on 1st February 2026 by Reynard

I don’t think humanity just replays history, but we are the same people our ancestors were, and our descendants are going to face a lot of the same situations we do. It’s instructive to imagine how they would react, with different technologies on different worlds. That’s why I write science fiction — even though the term ‘science fiction’ excites disdain in certain persons.

Kage Baker

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I was thinking about Kage Baker, who has been  gone 15 years the end of last month, so I decided give a selection of the reviews we have done. Of course she was much more than a writer of great speculation fiction, as she was the companion to a space pirate named Harry, a baker of barm brack,  very fond of Terry Gilliam and perhaps smitten by Bruce Campbell. English cooking with slabs of meats and desserts made with lots of butter by two fat ladies on a motorcycle with a sidecar cruising the countryside? Oh yes! And finally I must mention that she had a deep love for the early years of Hollywood and the film industry in general.

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Cat has a neat work for us: ‘At a mere one hundred and three pages, this is one of the best Robert Heinlein works I’ve ever read. Oops, I meant Kage Baker works. Or did I? Ok, let me reconcile the contradiction I just created (somewhat). The Empress of Mars reads like the best of Heinlein’s short fiction from the golden period of the 1940s and 1950s. It is so good that I’ve no doubt John W. Campbell would’ve published it! It would sit very nicely alongside much of his short fiction such as ‘Blowups Happen’, ‘The Long Watch’, and ‘The Green Hills of Earth’, to name but three classic Heinlein tales. It’s that well-crafted. It’s that entertaining. And it’s that rarest of short works — one that is just the right length.’

Matthew looks at a Kage Baker venture into children’s fiction: ‘In comparison to her other works,’ says he, ‘I would consider The Hotel under the Sand to be one of Kage Baker’s lesser works, but it is still highly enjoyable.’

Matthew also reviews Kage Baker’s Not Less Than Gods, her last Company novel which Kathleen, her sister, told Cat that apparently only she and Kage liked. (Cat says he liked it too.) Matthew says of this novel that ‘Ultimately, this is not going to be considered one of Kage’s strongest works. For someone who is a Company junkie, it is a nice installment, but the newcomer would not understand the novel’s position in the entire series. A lot of “inside” knowledge is required to more fully appreciate the novel.’

Robert brings us a look at two interconnected books by Kage Baker, beginning with Dark Mondays: ‘Baker is an extraordinary storyteller who refuses to let herself be bound by the expectations of genre, as the stories here show. In fact, on the basis of this collection, I think I would just call Baker a slipstream writer and not try to get any closer to a categorization of her work (“slipstream” being the genre that wasn’t, according to some people).’

The second is — well, it’s like this: ‘Kage Baker’s short novel, Or Else My Lady Keeps the Key, is not a sequel so much as a continuation of the adventures of John James, fugitive, sometime pirate, and free-lance muscle, who was introduced in her novella “The Maid on the Shore” in Dark Mondays.’ Robert explains that. Truly.

PGary here with some music. I jumped at the chance to review the new record by Eric Brace and Thomm Jutz; I’ve been writing up Eric’s music — solo, with band, and in various duos — for a quarter century now. ‘Circle and Square is full of gentle but sturdy songs about the human condition and the important role art of all kinds plays in the lives of us all. A good record for now.’

‘If you know the music of Värttinä you have some idea of what Tuuletar sounds like,’ I note in my review of Tuuletar’s third album Maammo. ‘All four of the women of Tuuletar — Venla Ilona Blom, Sini Koskelainen, Johanna Kyykoski and Piia Säilynoja — sing and do vocal effects and percussion, and Blom does some beatboxing as well.’

I also wrote about Tibet: The Voice Of The Tantra, a new two CD set of an old recording of the Monastery Of Gyütö’s monks. ‘The discs preserve a 1975 recording at the monastery and university of Gyütö performed by the first generation of Tibetan monks who went into exile from Lhasa to India with the current Dalai Lama. It’s an astonishing and utterly tranfixing auditory experience, of very high quality for 50-year-old field recordings.’

Lastly for me this time, I wrote an omnibus review of three new jazz releases, Martin Wind’s Stars, Dave Pietro’s The Butterfly Effect, and John McNeil & Tom Harrell’s Look To The Sky. The latter is a reissue: ‘These days I’m all about the trumpet, so I’m totally delighted by this classic reissue from SteepleChase. John McNeil and Tom Harrell are legendary horn players who rose to prominence in the New York scene of the 1970s, and this recording is the only one they made together.’

From the archives, Rebecca enjoyed the Christian Celtic folk pop of Ceili Rain’s Say ‘KAY-Lee’. ‘It is cheerful, enthusiastic, and well-crafted. Those people who are more comfortable with a bleak, cynical view of life will not like it, nor will those who are mistrustful of Christianity. However, those looking for a positive alternative will enjoy it. I think the warmth and optimism expressed here are as valid as any of the darker emotions expressed by musicians today.’

Finally, Richard was highly impressed by Jennifer and Hazel Wrigley’s Mither o’the Sea, one of the earliest recordings by the Wrigley Twins. ‘Most of the pieces played on this all-instrumental CD are composed by the sisters themselves (nearly always by Jennifer) or by other Orkney musicians, and respect local traditional forms. A couple come from mainland Scotland (not to be confused with Mainland in Orkney). To my surprise, a perusal of the booklet revealed that only the very last of the 23 tunes spread over 12 tracks is a traditional piece, a jig from Holm (a Nordic word that simply means “island”).’

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I’m going to leave you with the Kage‘s reading one of her own works, that being her Empress of Mars which Cat reviewed anove. It was supposed to be included on a CD in the limited edition version of the story that was going to be published by Nightshade Books but that never happened, so she gave us permission to have it here. So find a quiet place to listen and settle in to hear a most excellent sf story told by a master storyteller!

Kathleen, her sister, notes that ‘she was an old-fashioned storyteller. She loved adding dimensions, and felt that all her stories should be either copiously illustrated or read out to an audience.’

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A Kinrowan Estate story: Fireplaces in Kinrowan Hall

Posted on 25th January 2026 by Gus the Estate Head Gardener

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Let’s discuss fireplaces. Or more precisely why there’re only scattered open fireplaces left in all of Kinrowan Hall these days: one in the Library, one in the Pub and in the senior staff residences (RHIP).  Why this is so is what led to us getting rid of open fireplaces save these ones.

Centuries ago, there were more fireplaces here than I’d care to detail. Suffice it to say that it was a major undertaking to cut the firewood, chop it into the proper sizes and dry it properly, haul it in to be used, remove and dispose of the ashes properly, and keep fireplaces and chimneys cleaned right.

Now understand I like an open, roaring fireplace crackling and warming the room with both its light and heat. Well forget the last part — fireplaces lose at least ninety percent of their heat up the chimney! That’s why Kinrowan Hall, like similar buildings of its age and size, was cold in the winter even with all the fireplaces roaring away. Even the sleeping rooms that had fireplaces in them, and not all of them did so, would have their inhabitants wake in the morning to really cold rooms and a thick coating of ice on their wash basins. Only the landed gentry (which we are most decidedly not) who could afford servants could expect to have hot water delivered to their rooms. And even their bedrooms were fucking cold most of the year. So in the Sixties, we started to install a central hot water heating system here that ran off a boiler in the basement.  Yes, it was costly to purchase and extremely difficult to install but it made an amazing change for the better in the comfort of everyone here. We use the latest wall mounted flat heating units and, at the same time, installed triple glazed windows. We’ve since updated the system, again with noticeable improvements.

There’s still the really big fireplace in the Pub, though there’s an ingenious flue system there that recovers eighty percent of the heat that usually goes up the flue; and there’s the one in the Robert Graves Memorial Reading Room in the Library that also uses the same technology.

There’s a few other places we use wood such as in the Kitchen for fueling one of the ranges, for heating the saunas, and even in smoking salmon and pork, and drying fruit for winter use though the latter’s now done using solar driers more and more.

Fortunately the new electrical heating system runs on a combination of low-head hydro, Mill Pond turbo wheels, and, on sunny days, solar power, and on windy days, wind power using low-impact turbines up in the High Meadow where the wind I swear is always really strong.

So if you want the ambiance of a fireplace roaring strong, have a drink in our Pub while you enjoy listening to the Neverending Session, or go read a book in one of the comfy chairs in our Reading Room. Otherwise just enjoy that this centuries old building is actually warm this time of year!

P

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What’s New for the 18th of January: World music and fiction by Amal El-Mohtar

Posted on 18th January 2026 by Reynard

But that is the nature of grammar—it is always tense, like an instrument, aching for release, longing to transform present into past into future, is into was into will. — Amal El-Mohtar’s The River Has Roots


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I’ve been listening to the Andy Serkis dramatisation of The Hobbit these past few days, as it seems a wonderful thing to do as I work in the Library while a not so gentle snow falls outside. I’ve read it often enough that I know it by heart so I don’t really need to pay that close attention to it as I can really absorb the story by oysmosis as I work here in the Estate Library. I really should write a review up of it as it is most decidedly deserves one.

So do you care to join me for elevenses? We’ve a tendency here at the Kinrowan Estate to snack a lot as it’s easy to do with our own ever so good Kitchen. And I oh so do like a late morning repast in the Winter of hot chocolate or maybe something stronger like hot butterscotch with a healthy splash of rum and something tasty, say that lovely dark chocolate rugelach made by Fatima, my former Several Annie, who now works in the Kitchen.

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We have but two reviews this time, both of which involve the same writer, Amal El-Mohtar, the first being a splendid novella, How You Lose the Time War, that Paul says of that it ‘is a rivalry, a love story, a conflict, and a meeting of perspectives told through world-changing time travelers’ letters.’

Should you decide to listen to it, you’ll find it a quite different experience altogether from reading as our two narrators, both female of course as in the novel both of the characters are female,  do an absolutely splendid job of being fuly  true to the characters there and I highly recommend that even if you have read it in print that you also experience it in audio.

Her second work is a fantasy and it’s quite splendid as her first work which was obviously science-fiction. It’s a novel, a short one, a lovely one for reading on winter’s night I’d say as I’m writing in the deep of winter. Or anytime of year.

Again Paul does the reviewing honors and he really likes it: “Two sisters, Esther and Ysabel, the Hawthorns, devoted toward each other, living on the borderland of faerie. A love story, not so much as between Esther and her lover from faerie, but a love story of sisters whose bond cannot be denied. A retelling of a murder ballad, and rich and resonant resonances to stories of Faerie.This is the story of The River Has Roots.”

As I write this in January of  2026, some of her splendid short fiction has come out in The Honey Month and now Seasons of Glass and Iron will be out as well. As she of Lebanese descent, we’ll  consider them halawet el jinn, a sort of sweet cheese roll,  in story form, in other words very tasty.

PGary here with music. I do hope you’ll check out my review of Folk and World Music Galore Vol. 4. ‘I’ve come to look forward to the annual Folk and World Music Galore compilation from the German labels Nordic Notes and CPL-Music. The 2025 version of this comp, Vol. 4, is no exception, and even perhaps the best one yet, with 15 tracks from 15 acts, either culled from 2025 releases or advance singles from albums coming in 2026.’

From Barcelona comes the youthful folk quartet Trèvol’s live album La Gran Trevolada. ‘It’s at times a highly charged performance, with the band leaning into Catalonian politics on numbers like “Ni un pam de terra” (Not even an inch of land) with one of the women singing lead over a jazz-inflected arrangement. The satiric “Pasdoble dels Turistes” pokes fun at the tourists who invade Iberia every summer…’

Hungarian and Greek folk songs are the focus of a deeply personal debut album. ‘Veronika Varga is a seasoned performer of more than a decade, both solo and as a member of various ensembles (Babra, BudaPesme, VreMea Válkània, Epseria, and her a cappella project Lemonokipos). True Picture is the recording debut of the Hungarian folk singer and double bassist, presenting a program of traditional Hungarian and Greek songs.

A mashup of Swedish folk and Low Country Baroque music? That’s what Wör x Kongero’s Songbooks Live is all about. ‘The Belgian ensemble WÖR (pronounced “were”) plays new arrangements of 18th century Flemish melodies on a blend of old and modern instruments. The Swedish women’s folk quartet Kongero performs traditional Nordic songs in modern a capella arrangements, and composes new songs in the tradition. These two groups joined forces in 2025 to explore the spaces where these two traditions meet in a highly entertaining compare-and-contrast exercise that has gained them international acclaim.’

With news that Fairport Convention is going on tour again in 2026, I thought I’d post some live Fairport reviews I recently unearthed in the Archives. First up is this detailed review of two quite different gigs in The Netherlands, submitted by the Dutch musician, producer and artists Koen Hottentot. More along these lines to come!

Plet’s see what would be good to finish with for music this week… ‘Robbery With Violins’ is perhaps the finest example of the stellar work that violinist Peter Knight did in his long years with Steeleye Span. This is from their performance at My Father’s Place in Roslyn, New York on the 20th of April 1973. This was the third version of the band with a lineup of  Peter Knight, Maddy Prior, Bob Johnson, Tim Hart and Rick Kemp which released two albums, Below the Salt  in August of ’72 and Parcel of Rogues in June of next year. 

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A Kinrowan Estate story: Bridges and Paths plus a Troll

Posted on 11th January 2026 by Gus the Estate Head Gardener

PI figured one time that there are some fifteen miles (yes miles, I never took to the metric system, nor has anyone else here) of trails and walking paths that need continuous work. Some are essentially raised pathways, like the wooden ones that cross sensitive biomes like the marsh area that lies between the Estate Building and the yurts beyond that marsh area for our seasonal staff.

Any path that get high traffic like those from the guest yurts to the centre of the Estate receive slate or brick, allowing mosses to grow between them and precipitation to flow into the soil. The slate has been imported for over a century from Wales, the bricks for the last fifty years or so come from building demos in Edinburgh as they’ve a hard finish that holds up well under the most adverse of conditions.

You’d think that such paths would hold up well for a long time but you’d be wrong. The main problem is since we didn’t ground cloth under the them as that killed the soil under them, they sink rather quickly into the soil, in less than a decade, usually. So we remove them from pathway, replace any damaged bricks, add more river stones beneath, and carefully space them out.

Now I admit that neither path surface is ideal in wet weather; both can be very slippery under wet conditions but they still beat either conifer chips or granite dust since both have a very short lifespan and also behave poorly also in wet weather. The latter are better once the ground freezes solid.

Our bridges here are designed to last a long time, built of stone, timber and iron. We don’t quarry stone here but import it again from a quarry we’ve used for well over a century. The bridges would last longer if we used preservatives such as creosote on them but the bloody stuff is a potent toxin, so that’s not going to happen. The most important part of any bridge are the planks beneath the feet, so vehicles can use it, so we check those carefully every spring.

Most bridges are small structures’ needing light maintenance; other ones such as the Troll Bridge which has a fifty foot span over the the river that runs through the estate receives a full and detailed examination, everything from the footings to every fastening in it. And yes, there is a troll under it made of stone who’s at least a century and a half old according to the records and no one knows where it came from.

We even check the Troll which lives under that bridge to make sure that he’s not sinking too fast into the soft river mud. Yes he will settle in but we don’t want that to happen too quickly so he’s actually on a granite platform.

The best part of this work is that it’s allowed us to increase the number of full-time staffers resident on the estate as the added work was enough to warrant it. And that is a good thing indeed.u

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What’s New for the 4th of January: Favorite books and music of 2025

Posted on 4th January 2026 by Reynard

To everything (turn, turn, turn)
There is a season (turn, turn, turn)
And a time for every purpose, under heaven

Pete Seeger’s “Turn! Turn! Turn!”

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We’ve given over this edition to Gary, our music editor extraordinaire, who’s telling us about the books he reviewed last year and some music from 2025 that he really liked as well. So here he is…

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I didn’t review a lot of books in 2025, but those that I did review were exceptional. (I must confess I spent much of the year immersed in Henning Mankell’s series of police procedurals featuring the Swedish detective Kurt Wallander. Mankell wrote and set them in the 1990s and early 2000s, and in them he identifies a number of global societal trends that are still affecting us today. Highly recommended if you haven’t yet read them, or watched the BBC’s versions.)

First up chronologically was Simon Jimenez’s debut SF novel The Vanished Birds, which was a finalist for the Locus Award for 2020 and named one of the best books of the year by tordotcom and Kirkus Reviews, it was also selected by Jo Walton as one of the top 10 genre books of the first quarter of the 21st century (a list you should definitely check out). ‘In The Vanished Birds, Simon Jimenez has created memorable characters, crafted an intricate and epic plot spanning centuries and lightyears, and especially has done some extraordinary world building. It’s the kind of world — or really universe — building in which the details are slowly revealed in the reading without a lot of tedious explication. He does that by first introducing us — in a bit of literary legerdemain — to a small character on a marginal world and then gradually enlarging the field of view, giving us more characters in more complex situations in various settings across vast time and space. By the time you realize the scope of the tale, you’re definitely hooked.’

Next up was Mary Robinette Kowal’s The Calculating Stars, which filled in the origin story behind her highly popular Lady Astronaut series. The series imagines what would have happened if the U.S. had started the space program right after WWII, before an asteroid hits the Atlantic Ocean in the late 1950s and irreparably damages Earth. ‘When we meet her, Elma York (née Wexler) and her husband Nathaniel are horny young married professionals on vacation in a secluded cabin in Pennsylvania’s Pocono Mountains. Both work for the space agency NACA, she as a computer, he (a Manhattan Project veteran) as chief engineer. … Kowal handles the story masterfully, with just enough scientific jargon and facts to keep it feeling authentic but not enough to bog it down; her dialogue is solid and contributes to the believable characters; and especially she conveys the inner reality of a woman of the pre-feminist 1950s and ’60s who believes in her own capabilities and chafes against society’s restrictions, but often doesn’t even recognize many of the assumptions she unwittingly accepts. She even handles a few mild sex scenes with grace and aplomb.’

I read Elizabeth Bear’s The Folded Sky, the third entry in her White Space series, as soon as it was published. As Elizabeth herself pointed out, this one is a family drama, first contact novel and space opera, with a mystery thrown in for good measure. The heroine Dr. Sunya Song ‘… has been assigned to travel to a red dwarf called the Baostar that is about to go supernova. It is surrounded by Koregoi tech in the form of a sentient archive that the Synarche is just learning how to communicate with, and that’s where Sunya comes in. She’s tasked with communicating with the Baostar, all the while a small fleet of ships is ferrying away as many parts of it as can be saved before the star explodes. … The attempted murders, the unstable star, the nasty pirates are all something like McGuffins that move the plot along as we root for Sunya to survive long enough to gain confidence in herself.’

To wrap this up, my final review was James S. A. Corey’s The Mercy of Gods, the first of a new series by this duo who brought us The Expanse. It’s an edge-of-seat SF thriller in which a nearly omniscient alien power subjugates a human civilization, enslaving its top scientists, engineers and leaders on the aliens’ home planet, where they compete to the death with other slaves to solve problems for their new masters. ‘As with the crew of Rocinante in The Expanse, “Corey” (a.k.a. Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck) has created a team of distinct individuals for the reader to identify with, each having their own strengths, weaknesses and quirks. And then put them into an unimaginably stressful situation that brings out their best and sometimes worst traits. The plot draws on elements of Holocaust narratives, prison narratives and of course the campus novel, all in the midst of a fantastically constructed space opera. It’s also influenced by a classical, or rather Biblical source that I’m embarrassed I didn’t spot: The Book of Daniel, in which the Israelites are dragged off to Babylon for a generations-long captivity. The universe of The Mercy of Gods is a one that I won’t forget, and I can’t wait for the next installment in this trilogy.’

It was also the year that I discovered a pretty good SF related podcast, The Coode Street Podcast with Jonathan Strahan & Gary K. Wolfe. The two hosts engage in interviews with noted SFF writers and also have discussions (sometimes rather too in the weeds for me) of awards, cons and other genre arcana. I’ve really just dipped my toe in so far, but I very much enjoyed discussions with Jo Walton and with Guy Gavriel Kay.

PTime to clear the slate of music that I enjoyed but didn’t get around to reviewing way back in 2025. (Remember that year? What a strange one it was!) Some of these were languishing on my desktop since mid-summer, but most are from late fall and even early December. Why does so much new music come out so close to the end of the year!? Anyway, I’ve rounded up a bunch of jazz releases into a couple of omnibus reviews.

I’ll start with Julian Shore Trio’s Sub Rosa, GinmanBlachmanDahl’s Play Ballads, Convergence’s Reckless Meter, and Kalia Vandever’s Another View. A couple of piano trios, a modern jazz sextet from Colorado, and a trombone-led quartet with one of today’s top guitarists in a strong supporting role.

Sub Rosa: ‘The trio shows its chops and Shore his talent for arrangement on some well chosen covers including Duke Ellington’s “Blues In Blueprint,” a lesson in abstraction based on a simple form; a romantic trip through the Beach Boys’ “Don’t Talk (Put Your Head On My Shoulder)” and a highly abstracted romp through the Jerome Kern/Oscar Hammerstein standard “All The Things You Are.” ‘

Play Ballads: The album is rife with Ellingtonia: in addition to “Satin Doll” you’ll find the Duke’s “C Jam Blues” and “Come Sunday,” his son Mercer Ellington’s “Things Ain’t What They Used to Be,” and Billy Strayhorn’s “Take the ‘A’ Train” and “Chelsea Bridge.”‘

Reckless Meter: ‘The music is modern but melodic, with a lot of swing coming out of that rhythm section and delicious harmonies from the horns. If there’s anything that sounds better to my ears than a trumpet and sax mixing unison and harmony lines, it’s when you add a trombone to the mix!’

Another View: ‘In places Vandever draws on trance-like repitition to create an aura of mania or paranoia, particularly the introductions to “Withholding” and “Unearth What You Already Knew,” and elsewhere employing a menacing style of classical-influenced composition to unsettle, especially the arco bass-trombone duet that opens “Cycle In Mourning.”

Next up are Ovella Negra’s Va de Mescles!, and Rosàlia De Souza Quarteto 55˚’s self-titled debut album of Brazilian samba, choro and more. ‘Ovella Negra is at root a piano trio, but one with a difference. Pianist Joan Frontera Luna’s vision was to create a vibrant jazz program from the popular folk music of his native Balearic Islands (off Spain’s southern Mediterranean coast, including Mallorca) and unite the music with a visual program that showcases the island’s traditional dances as well.’ … ‘De Souza, a world renowned interpreter of samba, bossa nova, and Brazilian music traditions with more than a dozen albums to her name joins with Danish pianist Peter Rosendal, Canadian bassist Graig Earle, and Danish drummer Jonas Johansen on a program of mostly originals by quartet members in various combinations, with some Brazilian classics sprinkled in.’

In music podcasts, I continued enjoying some of my old standbys: Discord & Rhyme, Slate’s Hit Parade with Chris Molanphy, and Aquarium Drunkard Transmissions. And I discovered a couple of new ones that I’ve been binging. Most recently The Late Set, in which Nate Chinen and Josh Jackson conduct in-depth conversations with jazz musicians and share the occasional number from one of those artists’ live set. But my favorite of the year is A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs, by Andrew Hickey. These are short (approximately 30 minutes) but deep episodes, begun in September 2018, covering Hickey’s sometimes quirky but definitely authoritative opinions about the way rock music has evolved. I found out about it when someone from the old Richard Thompson List posted a link to the episode about Fairport Convention’s ‘Who Knows Where The Time Goes?’, which is 178  on his chronological list.

PThe year just turned, so why not a song to see it off that celebrates that turning? It’s ‘Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There is a Season)’ by Judy Collins who sang it at The Newport Folk Festival, fifty-five years ago. It was written by Pete Seeger in the late Fifties and first recorded in 1959.

The lyrics save for the title, which is repeated throughout the song, and the final two lines are the first eight verses of the third chapter of the ‘Book of Ecclesiastes’. The Byrds also recorded it and you can hear them sing it here. This version was recorded at the Boston Tea Party fifty-six years ago.

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A Kinrowan Estate story: Mythologist John Campbell

Posted on 28th December 2025 by Iain Nicholas Mackenzie

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I was watching a New Years Eve gig and it was clear to me how tribal it felt. Good communities are tribes. They have rituals and myths and those kinds of deeper realities that light up everyday reality and give it some substance. I felt like I was looking at a tribal ceremony, and I liked that. — attributed to Joseph Campbell

It’s no wonder that it’s so hard to tell fiction from fact these days. Astrid, who’s one of my Several Annies, the Library Apprentices (well sort of though they’re really a whole lot more than that but tradition gives them that appellation but I digress as I oft times do) was deep in the net researching her presentation on contemporary traditions regarding New Year’s Eve when she stumbled upon the quote above.

It certainly sounded like something that Campbell would have said but she quickly discovered that though it was widely attributed to him, no one actually said where it was from! So she asked me if I knew where it came from. I thought it sounded familiar so I first checked several online resources that I trust and no, Wikipedia was not one of them, as anything full of self appointed wankers with shite for brains who edit at will with no regard for the truth is not to be trusted ‘tall.

So I decided to assign all of the Several Annies the task of combing through the published works of Campbell to see if they could spot that quote. I know that it’s a large corpus of work but they were all concentrating on him and his works for the Winter when this question raised its head, so I figured that they’d find it if actually existed.

(Digression for a minute: it’d be really, really useful if the Joseph Campbell Foundation, who’ve been doing superlative new editions of his works, provided an online searchable database of his works. Alas they don’t.)

Months passed and not one of them found anything close to it. Indeed they didn’t find anything on him that might have formed the basis of that quote, however much it got bastardized, in much the same manner that a tune can get changed as it passes from one musician to another. And it’s entirely possible that some other writer said something akin to that and it got attributed to him in the same manner that the reverse happens with composers who, by the time that a tune passed from session to session, gets his tune considered to be trad arranged. Just ask Irish fiddler and composer Phillip Varlet, who composed ‘The Philadelphia Reel’, which was the name that the House Band recorded it under as they were told it was a trad arranged composition! Not his name but he gets royalties for it now.

I’m imagining that someday we’ll have folks on sites like Wikipedia listing lines of dialog created for Peter Jackson’s films which are based rather loosely on Tolkien’s works as being actual text by him. Don’t laugh — I’m serious as similar things, as I’ve noted here, do happen. In an odd sense, the Internet harkens back to the era before printed works somewhat supplanted the oral tradition, in that texts are now as fluid as they were then as they passed from storyteller to storyteller.

So can I interest you in afternoon tea? Mrs. Ware and her Kitchen staff promised that they’d make tarts with those Border strawberries that turn white as they ripen after starting out red if I’d read The Hobbit a chapter at a time in the mornings to them, a trade I willingly agreed to.

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What’s New for 21st of December

Posted on 21st December 2025 by Iain Nicholas Mackenzie

There is one story and one story only
That will prove worth your telling,
Whether as learned bard or gifted child;
To it all lines or lesser gauds belong
That startle with their shining
Such common stories as they stray into

Robert Graves, first stanza of
‘To Juan at the Winter Solstice’

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This is  Iain, the Librarian here. I’ve just have three notes to pass on this time…

The Winter Solstice arrives tomorrow, so let’s start you off with our annual story about that sacred event, Jennifer Stevenson’s ‘Solstice’ about a small-time rocker — well, listen to it as told by the author to find out what happens to her on that night, or if you prefer to read it, you can do so here.See if she actually does it

One of our Winter Queens, the late Josepha Sherman, ponders in her Speech upon the meaning of Winter: ‘What is Winter? A time to fear? A time for darkness and death? No. Winter is merely part of the endless cycle of sleep and awakening, dying and rebirth. The trees know it: they don’t die each year.’

One of our longtime staff, Kathleen, has an online journal where she talks about her late sister Kage Baker, author of the acclaimed SF series The Company. Her latest entry which you can read here has her reminiscing about Kage during the Christmas season.

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I’m making notes about my favorite Christmas or Solstice works for you to think about..

For me, one I read every year is Jane Yolen’s The Wild Hunt, which is illustrated by Fransico Moro. To tell two boys occupying the same house, but not the same house at the same time, with a cat, exactly the same cat, of course, and The  Wild Hunt about to happen as the solstice comes upon the world. So what role the boys and that cat have in this? Read it and see.

Next up is a work by Charles de Lint, writer, and his late wife Marianne Harris, illustrator, The Crow Girls Christmas. Two immortal beings just wanna have fun and sugar, lots of sugar. What can possibly go wrong?  Well I won’t say more.

The Polar Express. Now I’m sure you’ve heard of it who hasn’t? Well, I’m sure somebody hasn’t, so do mention it to them, will you? Chris Van Allsburg’s children’s tale which is illustrated  and written by him is a treat for all ages,  read it and be delighted.

A multitude of children have written letters to Father Christmas. If your father was J.R.R. Tolkien, you experienced just such an occurrence. Of course, most of our fathers are not Tolkien, but now we can experience the thrill of receiving Letters from Father Christmas. It’s a lovely book both in its text and illustrations consisting of the postcards that were written by him during the war. Here you can only the text, well performed by Derek Jacobi. .now that’s a treat for reading to your children on a cold winters night.

That’s all for me. I’m gonna go have some hot cocoa, cookies, and listen to the carols I can hear from here

PThis is Gary, the music editor. There are just a few holiday albums that are on my household’s playlist. The top choice is Waterson:Carthy’s Holy Heathens and the Old Green Man. First because it’s Waterson:Carthy of course, the weathered and perfectly matched voices of Norma Waterson and Martin Carthy with their daughter Eliza’s voice and fiddle, Martin’s guitar and the melodeon of Tim Van Eyken. The selections are old English folk songs, folk hymns and wassail songs with creative arrangements including some brass charts by Van Eyken. Just a lovely and bracing collection all ’round.

Next up, that classic of mid-century jazz, A Charlie Brown Christmas by the Vince Guaraldi Trio. With or without the animated special, this music perfectly captures the joy and insouciance (with a slight touch of the blues) of the holiday season during childhood.

Another one I pull out of the stacks and put on the turntable every year around this time is George Winston’s December. A classic of both new age and holiday music, this chilly, stark masterpiece has stood the test of time. Top track for me, “Some Children See Him,” a wintry fest of sustain and hinted dissonance.

Finally, We Sing Christmas by the San Francisco men’s vocal ensemble Chanticleer. Nothing like a little Renaissance music to add a little class to your holiday soundscape! And it’s a good sound to have in the background while you read Ada Palmer’s 2025 book Inventing the Renaissance, a dense but imminently readable volume of history (and historiography) on her specialty, Renaissance Italy, and how the period has been understood and misinterpreted through the ensuing ages.

PSo let’s leave you with some seasonally apt music. Or at least what I consider such which in this case would a steller performance by Loreena McKennitt of her “Dickens’ Dublin”. It’s from ‘A Loreena McKennitt Christmas’ on KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic program from tWendy years ago this month.

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A Kinrowan Estate story: Pub Ghoulies

Posted on 14th December 2025 by Diverse Voices

oak_leaf_fallen_colored1From the archives of Sleeping Hedgehog, the in-house journal published here for centuries now.

Welcome, laddy-buck. Come in and find a seat here by the fire, and tell me your pleasure! Take a settle; they’re cushioned and wide enough for two, should fortune favour you. It’s quiet now, but there’s no end of entertainment due — we’ve a master storyteller, one Charles de Lint, come to regale us, and he’s a marvel and delight. And the lovely Mistress Elizabeth Bear, too, who they tell me is a bold lady, will be telling ghost stories for them as likes.

Well and so — ’tis the season of ghosts and witches soon, and we’re to smarten up the Pub for the celebrations. What’s to celebrate in ghosts and witches, I wonder? But, there — not my place to set our course, not here and now. I know a bit about ghosts and witches, though, that I do; being in the way of being both, you might say.

Oh, don’t shy so! We’re all ghosts from time to time in life, boyo. And can you claim I’m the first you’ve met in a bar? I’ve met ’em, more than once. Aye, that’s better, give us a smile — you’ve a good smile, and I’ve ever had a weakness for a lad with a sweet mouth. That was my undoing, when I sailed with Jack Rackham. Now, here’s your ale; shift over a mite, and let me sit with you for a moment…

Anne is my name, and I’ve been called bonney in my time. But that’s just my little joke, see. It’s my pleasure now to serve ale here in the Green Man, and Reynard is too canny a hand to think he’s my master. But this time of year, when the fogs are coming in black off the sea and salt and frost both flavour the air, it’s good to have a warm harbour here. Why, even the ravens and crows come in for a sup and a nap by the fire – so watch your coin, or our Hooded Maggie will have it away for a play-pretty in her nest under the library eaves.

Aye, she drives Liath the librarian to distraction, fey though Liath is — for Maggie’s always after the gilding on the old books, she is, sharp as any sailor after a coin. But she’s a darling despite it, pretty Maggie — with her beak like a black marlinspike and her gold-doubloon eyes. Oh, you can keep your gulls, says I; no true seaman looks twice at one o’ them! But the ravens and the crows, for all they’re landsman’s birds, they’re fine enough. Reavers and rogues at heart, on the account as much as any buccaneer and merry with it while they may be. And not afraid of the dead nor the dark, neither.

See how she comes to my hand, the sweeting? Some of it’s the sparkle of my rings, to be sure — watch how sly she is, trying her beak all gentle to see if a gem can be slipped off my finger! But more than that, she wants her neck scratched. There, see how she mantles her feathers, ruffles ’em out for a kind finger to stroke. A lass likes a petting now and then. Maggie and I are of a mind, there.

So come, put your arm around a body and we’ll watch the fire a bit. Nay, don’t peep at the mirror yonder. Your cap is straight, and the glass’ll show nothing you want to see.

A fire is such a lovely thing — not just the warmth, but the colours and the sound. When a fire is big enough, wild enough, it roars like the surf on a shingle shore. Have you ever heard it so? It roared like that above the roofs of the towns on the Spanish Main, so it did . . . and ain’t the scarlet and the gold brave, now! Nothing brighter as they twine up a wall or a mast, like roses, and climb a mainsail faster than the best topman goes up the ratlines. All women love what sparkles, like Maggie and her trove; and I never saw anything sparkle fairer than the way wild fire glitters on a dark horizon, or a sacked galleon, or a dead man’s open eyes . . .

Ah, now, lad — I told you not to look in the mirror! What’s a reflection, after all? To be sure, here’s my hand, and the glass I bring you — here’s my smile for you, and my eyes that see you clear enough. You’ll see yourself in my eyes, if you look; no need to gaze at that tricksie glass. What matter that you don’t show in the mirror? It’s nothing to me nor to anyone else here.

‘Tis your season, after all.

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What’s New for 7 of December: books by Alan Garner, and holiday music new and old, Celtic, Americana, jazz and more

Posted on 7th December 2025 by Reynard

She wants to be flowers, but you make her owls. You must not complain, then, if she goes hunting. — Alan Garner’s The Owl Service

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We’ve got our first snow here at the Kinrowan Estate — not that much but enough to turn everything properly white. It was interesting to watch our dogs, Irish wolfhounds all, play in the snow as they’re wont to do. There were several attempts to make snow beings of various sorts but the snow wasn’t quite right for that. As for myself, I was content to watch from the Pub here while enjoying an Irish coffee while reading the screenplay for War for the Oaks.

Oh if you’ve not seen it, there is a short trailer that Emma and company made for the novel. It’s quite charming and here it is. The music is by Boiled in Lead. Our review of it is here and well worth reading for all the details about it.

Yes we put together an edition of our book and music reviews  with reading and listening we hope will be to your liking. Of course there’s a live music selection for you to listen to.

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We’re looking at the works of Alan Garner this time, the noted British fantasy writer we just celebrated his 90th birthday.

Cat has an unusual offering from him: ‘Let’s start off with what Boneland isn’t: despite sharing a primary character with The Weirdstone of Brisingamen and The Moon of Gomrath, beloved children’s novels known as The Alderley Tales that were published in 1957 and 1964, this is very much an adult novel not intended for the pleasure of children whatsoever. Indeed its tone is more akin to what the late Robert Holdstock did in his Ryhope Wood series than anything else Alan Garner has done excepting Thursbitch and Strandloper.’y

He reviewed the audiobook edition of The Owl Service when it came out a decade back: ‘Listening to The Owl Service as told by Wayne Forester, who handles both the narration and voicing of each character amazingly well, one is impressed by his ability to handle both Welsh accents and the Welsh language, given the difficultly of that tongue, which make Gaelic look easy as peas to pronounce by comparison.’

We’ve a second look at The Owl Service as Kim reviewed the 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.’

Stephen says this work is definitely aimed at adults: ‘These are only the questions which I find myself considering today. When I read Thursbitch again (and I will), they may be different, as they may be for you, when you read this book. The reasons for this are that Thursbitch is a book that casts the reader as an enthralled participant, rather than a passive recipient. It is, to repeat, a mystery. It may unsettle you (if not actually give you nightmares), but you’ll love it unequivocally nonetheless.
oak_leaf_fallen_colored2Gary here with music. Daryana wrote up the results of this year’s Russian World Music Chart: ‘Topping the list is Nostalgia by Oduchu, a duo from the Siberian Tuva Republic, released by the China-based label Stallion Era,’ she says. ‘A total of 52 releases from 23 labels participated in the chart across the genres of world, ethnic, and folk music. The list includes albums released in 2025 and three releases from late 2024.’

I belatedly got around to reviewing Brìghde Chaimbeul’s second solo album of Scottish smallpipe music, Sunwise. ‘But it doesn’t have the stark feel of a solo album … partly because she sings on some tracks, as does her brother Eòsaph on the final track “The Rain is Wine & The Stones Are Cheese,” a traditional song used to mark the longest and darkest night of the year. It clocks in at exactly one minute, with the two voices seemingly modified by the deep buzzing drone she pulls out of her pipes as the siblings sing in the canntaireachd style that is used to vocalize bagpipe music.’

I thoroughly enjoyed a new Christmas album of Americana music from Melissa Carper. ‘A Very Carper Christmas is brimming with Carper’s sly wit, country tinged sentiment and occasional winking irreverence. It’s a tour of all the different kinds of country songs you can think of, from kids’ songs about puppies and missing front teeth to lusty country soul, Western swing, folk a hip-swiveling Cajun waltz and even a bit of a Latin vibe, all on the holiday theme.’

I’ll also tell you about a unique album of klezmer style Hanukkah songs written by none other than Woody Guthrie! ‘ …If your idea of “the holidays” isn’t Santa or Baby Jesus, or you’re not ready to hear the one millionth version of “Sleigh Ride” again just yet, or if you just fancy something quite different — a unique blend of American folk song and zippy klezmer music — you might enjoy Woody Guthrie’s Happy Joyous Hanukkah from The Klezmatics.

Speaking of that song … From the Archives, I reviewed Big Band Christmas II by the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. ‘Now, if I never hear another rendition of Percy Faith’s ubiquitous “Sleigh Bells” it’ll be too soon. So it was with trepidation that I approached what is here billed as “Brazilian Sleigh Bells,” but I was pleasantly surprised. Bassist Carlos Henriquez has created a swinging and fun arrangement that’s barely recognizable as that old chestnut, with help from soloists Sherman Irby on alto sax, and bandleader Wynton Marsalis and Bruce Harris on trumpets.’

John reviewed a couple of holiday albums as part of a Celtic music omnibus, including one various artists’ live album. ‘Cold Blow These Winter Winds is a Christmas album with a difference – featuring a collection of Scottish musicians, singers and English guests like Eliza Carthy. It sets out to achieve and to demand playing at times beyond the Yuletide season. Using a stripped down approach for the song arrangements and instrumental backings, it achieves a sense of quietude where one can tune in to the emotions and feelings captured in the song choice.’

Kim did a thorough review of some very disparate winter holiday albums: Ensemble Galilei’s A Winter’s Night: Christmas in the Great Hall; St. Agnes Fountain’s Acoustic Carols for Christmas, and Comfort & Joy;
and various artists’ Oh Christmas Tree: A Bluegrass Collection for the Holidays. ‘My personal holiday tastes run to the traditional and instumental, and I prefer those that refer to the religious or seasonal aspects of the seasons; I loathe those lounge singer holiday albums that go on about Santa bringing diamonds, or snowmen officiating weddings. Give me a holiday album that doesn’t pander to the frenzy, something soothing and instrumental, I say.’

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Shall we see what the Infinite Jukebox has for us? One moment… So let’s give a listen to ‘Red Rocking Chair’ performed by Yonder Mountain String Band at Cicero’s in St Louis, Missouri  on the 12h of  April fifteen years ago.  ‘Red Rocking Chair’ is a popular old time tune often performed as a vocal number as it is done here.

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A Kinrowan Estate story: Several Annies, Part Two

Posted on 30th November 2025 by Diverse Voices

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For the first part of this tale, head this way.

As we all know, time flows differently on the other side of the Border, and it was three weeks before Liath was back to Kinrowan Hall. She returned on a Saturday, so it was a full four weeks before she graced Chix with Stix again. All the usuals were there early, plus a few who don’t know one end of a knitting needle from the other. As so often happens, someone suddenly noticed that Liath was on.

We turned toward her as one. Liath looked up. ‘Was there something? You know I can’t talk about my missions for the Queen.’ The sight of our disappointed faces must have been too much for her, and we were graced with one of her rare smiles.

‘Ah yes, I remember. Now where was I?’ We all settled back comfortably and she began to tell the tale of a departed Fey Librarian and why it happened.

‘The next day, we set the plan into action. The girls were models of obedience. No matter what Rónán wanted, he got it. Only, they suddenly seemed to need a lot of supervision. “Rónán, is this right?” “Rónán, could you explain what you want again, please?” “Rónán, where do you want the papyri?” Rónán indeed! For about a day and a half he was in fine fettle. Felt vindicated — obviously these little chits couldn’t do anything without him. Then it started to wear on him. He’d gotten used to having intelligent help, you see, though darn the fear of him ever admitting it. By the time the moon was almost full he was in a frenzy of impatience.

‘A storm blew in on the day of the full moon, and by evening there were neither stars nor moon to be seen. Every cat in the Building, and not a few two-legged creatures, stalked around with hair on end. This room had been assigned as the Annies’ workroom from their arrival. I knew the trap was being sprung, and I was in here alone, pacing much like you were, Young Annie. Then I heard a blast, the kind that only comes from a great and angry Magic.

‘I hurried into the main Library. It was empty of living creatures, but most of the volumes that should have been on the shelves were in heaps on the floor. The air was thick with smoke, but fortunately I couldn’t find any flames. This had gone further than any of us had expected. What had that mad cousin of mine done with the Annies? A few of my colleagues crowded, terrified, at the door. I held up a hand to still their chatter. Then I closed my eyes and Saw where they had gone.

‘Rónán has taken the Annies to Alexandria,’ I said. ‘I must go after them.’

‘But how did he take them?’ asked another of the Annies, the one with the beauty spot on her left cheekbone.

‘The same way I brought them here, and the same way I followed them. By the time I got there, the Annies were dodging from pillar to pillar, trying to get away from the gouts of fire shooting from Rónán’s hair. The place was on fire. ‘Rónán!’ I cried. No response from him. Then I whispered his name, and he turned toward me. ‘Liath! It’s all your doing! Bringing these little fools into my Library. I’ll destroy them, and this bad joke of a human Library with them. What right have these mortals to dare to pretend to any knowledge?’ Flames shot out toward me, and I moved to put wards around myself. Rónán was foaming at the mouth, cursing the four of us. ‘By the Queen’s milk, I’ll kill you all,’ he gibbered. That was his last mistake.

‘The Queen doesn’t like her name being used to curse, of course, and the King is none too fond of any insult to his Liege Lady. Once Rónán uttered his nonsensical curse, there were both of Their Majesties in an instant. One look from the Queen froze Rónán where he stood. One gesture from the King put out the fires.’

‘Did they kill him?’ breathed the third Annie.

‘No, of course not. We of the Fey seldom resort to such punishment. Let’s just say that he has had some time to contemplate his crimes in tranquility, and that I hope someday, for my aunt’s sake, to hear that he has been rehabilitated. I brought the Annies back here and set them to cleaning up the Library. Soon enough, I was called to Court, and every other creature of the Fey associated with the Building along with me.

‘Never again shall one of you take the position of Librarian for Kinrowan Estate,’ said His Majesty gravely. ‘You have too much power. Rónán could have destroyed the greatest of the mortals’ stores of knowledge, as well as one that may someday rival it. Liath, you can remain as Archivist. Be the Building’s memory, and help in finding a succession of mortals to run its Library.’

Liath bit off the silken yarn with those sharp little teeth of hers and held up another of her lovely amulet bags. The crystals refracted the firelight, sending multicoloured flames dancing around the room.

‘And so it has been ever since. I persuaded one of the under-librarians from the Great Library to come and work here for a while. ‘Tis thanks to him that we have the collections in the room with the pillars. Annie, Ana and Hannah served out their time and a day and then moved on. When new apprentices came, we kept calling them all Annie, but in remembrance, not scorn. All three of the original Annies came back for a time as Librarian, too.’

Liath gave us her second smile of the evening. ‘I never could get Hannah to tell me what was the last thing she said to Rónán that set him off.’

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