Friday, August 30, 2019

FRIDAY'S "FORGOTTEN" BOOKS AND MORE: the links to the reviews: 30 August 2019

This week's books and more, unfairly (or sometimes fairly) neglected, or simply those the reviewers below think you might find of some interest (or, infrequently, you should be warned away from); certainly, most weeks we have a few not at all forgotten titles...if I've missed your review or someone else's, please let me know in comments.

Patricia Abbott: Blackwater by Kerstin Ekman (translated by Joan Tate) 

Stacy Alesi: The B List: Fiction Review 1983-2013 

Kingsley Amis: Thrilling Wonder Stories, 1984 and all..., Science Fiction News, September 1960

Brad Bigelow: Letters Home edited by Mina Curtiss 

Les Blatt: The Rubber Band by Rex Stout; Rocket to the Morgue by "Anthony Boucher" (William White) 

Elgin Bleecker: Gumshoe Blues by Paul D. Brazill

Joachim Boaz: Future without Future by Jacques Sternberg (translated by Frank Zero)

Brian Busby: M'Lord, I Am Not Guilty by Frances Shelley Wees 

Bill Crider: The Splintered Man by "M. A. Chaber" (Kendall Foster Crossen)

Martin Edwards: The Double Agent by John Bingham 

Barry Ergang: 15 Seconds by Andrew Gross 

Will Errickson: The Bog by Michael Talbot; The Witches novels by "James Darke" (Laurence  James); Robert Arthur Smith novels 

José Ignacio EscribanoTragedy at Law by Cyril Hare; "The Oblong Box" by Edgar Allan Poe (Godey's Lady's Book, September 1844, edited by Sarah Josepha Hale) 

Curtis Evans: the works of Elizabeth Fenwick  

Olman Feelyus: The Long-Legged Fly by James Sallis; The Kif Strike Back by "C. J. Cherryh" (Carolyn J. Cherry) 

Ray Foster: Colette: You Don't Have to Say You Love Me by Abigail Summer 

Paul Fraser: 1944 Retro-Hugo Ballot: Conjure Wife and Gather, Darkness! by Fritz Leiber, et. al. 

Adam Gopnik: "A Traveler at Forty: Paris!" by Theodore Dreiser (The Century Magazine, October 1913, edited by Robert U. Johnson)

John Grant: The Amber Fury (aka The Furies) by Natalie Haynes; Beyond All Reasonable Doubt by Malin Persson Giolito (translated by Rachel Willson-Broyles); Death Going Down by María Angélica Bosco (translated by Lucy Greaves) 

Aubrey Hamilton: The Fourteenth Trump by Judson Philips; A Stillness in Bethlehem by "Jane Haddam" (Orania Papazoglou) 

Bev Hankins: Dr. Fell, Detective and Other Stories by John Dickson Carr 

Rich Horton: The World Between and Other Stories and Monsters in Orbit, and The Narrow Land by Jack Vance; Yellow Dog by Martin Amis; Chris Willrich stories; "The Jungle" by Melissa Caitlin Horton (Whitman, now) 

Jerry House: Max Allan Collins: A Long Time Dead (with Mickey Spillane); Quarry in the Black; Quarry's Climax; Fate of the Union and Executive Order (with Matthew V. Clemens); Better Dead; and commentary, with George Hagenaur, in Men's Adventure Magazines; Phantom Lady, June 1948, written by Ruth Roche (possibly) and illustrated by Matt Baker 

Gabino Iglesias: Old Bones by Aaron Elkins

Kate Jackson: Murder Can Be Fun by Fredric Brown; The Kill Fee by Fiona Veitch Smith 

Tracy K: Death in Amsterdam by Nicolas "Freeling" (Davison); Innocence; or, Murder on Steep Street by Heda Margolius Kovaly (translated by Alex Zucker)

Colman Keane: Nightshades by Bill Pronzini 

George Kelley: Ellery Queen's Grand Slam: 25th Annual Mystery Anthology edited by "Ellery Queen" (Frederic Dannay, the editing half of the duo) 

Joe Kenney: California Hit by Don Pendleton; Kingdom of Royth by "Jeffrey Lord" (in this case, Roland Green) 

Rob Kitchin: Assembly of the Dead by Saeida Rouass

B. V. Lawson: Wycliffe and the Three-Toed Pussy by W. J. Burley  

Xavier Lechard: "Anthony Boucher" v. Had I But Known...

Evan Lewis: The Mark of Zorro by Johnston McCulley 

Steven Lewis: A Lovely Night to Kill by D. Miller Morgan; "The China Cottage" by August Derleth, Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, March 1965, edited by G. F. Foster; Fisherman's Bend by Linda Greenlaw 

James McGlothlin: The Best of Raymond Z. Gallun edited by J. J. Pierce

John F. Norris: Death at "The Bottoms" by A. B. Cunningham 

Matt Paust: Oregon Hill by Howard Owen 

Craig Pittman: Meet Me at the Morgue by "Ross Macdonald" (Kenneth Millar)

James Reasoner: Stool Pigeon by Louis Malley 

Richard Robinson: Robert A. Heinlein: the YA novels ranked (or, as they were known then, the Juveniles)  

Sandra Ruttan: Every Fear by Rick Mofina

Hank Phillippi Ryan: A Dark-Adapted Eye by "Barbara Vine" (Ruth Rendell)

Gerard Saylor: A Painted Goddess by Victor Gischler

Jack Seabrook: "Thanatos Palace Hotel" by Andre Maurois (Candide, 1937; in translation in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, February 1952) 

Jack Seabrook and Peter Enfantino: Warren Comics: November 1967-January 1968 and the Best of 1964-67

Steven H Silver: Donald Grant: Fantasy Newsletter, Donald M. Grant, Publisher and other work"Sandkings" by George R. R. Martin, OMNI, August 1979, edited by Ben Bova

Victoria Silverwolf: Fantastic: Stories of Imagination, September 1964, edited by Cele Goldsmith Lalli 

Kerrie Smith: The Mistletoe Bride by Kate Mosse 

Duane Spurlock: The Ruthless Men by Lewis B. Patten

Dan Stumpf: The Steel Mirror by Donald Hamilton

"TomCat": The Night of Fear by "Moray Dalton" (Katherine M. Renoir); The Army Post Murders by Mason Wright

David Vineyard: The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas (pere) (as translated by Robin Buss) 

Bill Wallace: Evergreen Review, November-December 1959, edited by Barney Rosset 

Mark Yon: New Worlds SF, October 1964, edited by Michael Moorcock  



Friday, August 23, 2019

FRIDAY'S "FORGOTTEN" BOOKS AND MORE: the links to the reviews: 23 August 2019

This week's books and more, unfairly (or sometimes fairly) neglected, or simply those the reviewers below think you might find of some interest (or, infrequently, you should be warned away from); certainly, most weeks we have a few not at all forgotten titles, and this week is festooned with not-obscure writers and their books which have fallen mostly out of favor, or, even more often, been lost in the shuffle of their prolific legacy...if I've missed your review or someone else's, please let me know in comments.

Patricia Abbott: My Cousin Rachel by Daphne Du Maurier 

Stacy Alesi: The A List: Fiction Reviews: 1983-2013 

Brad Bigelow: No Goodness in the Worm by Gay Taylor 

Les Blatt: The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie; The Case of the Careless Kitten by Erle Stanley Gardner 

Elgin Bleecker: The Case of the Beautiful Beggar by Erle Stanley Gardner

Brian Busby: The Squeaking Wheel by John Mercer

Rachel S. Cordasco: from 13 French Science Fiction Stories, edited and translated by Damon Knight, stories by Catherine Cliff, Natalie Henneberg, Suzanne Malaval

Martin Edwards: Midsummer Murder by Clifford Whitting

Peter Enfantino: Atlas (proto-Marvel) horror comics, August 1952

Peter Enfantino and Jack Seabrook: DC war comics, July 1975

Barry Ergang: The Last Best Hope by "Ed McBain" (Evan Hunter)

Will Errickson: Unholy Trinity by Ray Russell 

José Ignacio Escribano: "Ibn-Hakam al Bokhari, Murdered in His Labyrinth" by Jorge Luis Borges (variously translated from "Abenjacán el Bojarí, muerto en su laberinto"), Sur, August 1951 

Curtis Evans: recommendations to the Library of America 

Olman Feelyus: Silver on the Tree by Susan Cooper

Paul Fraser: The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, November 1954, edited by "Anthony Boucher" (William White) 

John Grant: Bad Debts by Peter Temple; The Lazarus Curse by Tessa Harris; When Elves Attack by Tim Dorsey 

Aubrey Hamilton: Most Cunning Workmen by Roy (John Royston) Lewis; Bad to the Bones by Rett MacPherson 

Bev Hankins: Family Affair by Ione Sandberg Shriber 

Rich Horton: Stories of Brian W. Aldiss; stories of Rachel Pollack; The Dalemark Quartet by Diana Wynne Jones; stories of Greg Egan; stories of Lucius Shepard; The Martian Chronicles and The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury; The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer; Christopher Priest novels

Jerry House: "The Death Chair" by L. T. (Elizabeth Thomasina) Meade and Robert Eustace, The Strand Magazine, July 1899, edited by Herbert Smith 

Sally Fitzgerald: "The Train" by Flannery O'Connor, Sewanee Review, April 1948, edited by Alan Tate

Kate Jackson: The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club by Dorothy L. Sayers; Hallowe'en Party by Agatha Christie 

Tracy K: City of Shadows by Ariana Franklin; Behind That Curtain by Earl Derr Biggers 

Colman Keane: Mr. Monk Goes to the Firehouse by Lee Goldberg 

George Kelley: The Case of the Borrowed Brunette by Earl Stanley Gardner 

Joe Kenney: The Anderson Tapes by Lawrence Sanders; Cult of the Damned by "Spike Andrews" (Duane Schemerhorn) 

Rob Kitchin: Black Hornet by James Sallis 

B. V. Lawson: The FBI: A Centennial History 1908-2008, Anonymous (produced by the US Dept. of Justice) 

Evan Lewis: Hombre by Elmore Leonard 

Steve Lewis: "The Spy Who Came to the Brink" by Edward D. Hoch, Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, December 1965, edited by Frederic Dannay; "The Theft from the Onyx Pool", EQMM, June 1967; stories from Forbidden River by Frederick Nebel; The Detective and the Chinese High-Fin by Michael Craven 

J. F. Norris: Secret Sceptre by Francis Gerard 

Matt Paust: Hollywood by Charles Bukowski 

James Reasoner: Love Addict by "Don Elliott" (Robert Silverberg) 

Richard Robinson: Have Space Suit--Will Travel by Robert A. Heinlein 

Sandra Ruttan: A Thousand Bones by P. J. Parrish 

Gerard Saylor: A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson 

Doreen Sheridan: The Suspect by L. R. Wright 

Steven H Silver: "giANTS" by Edward Bryant, Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact, August 1979, edited by Stanley Schmidt 

Kerrie Smith: Head in the Sand by Damien Boyd

Dan Stumpf: The Third Man by Graham Greene; Leonardo's Bicycle by Paco Ignacio Taibo II 

"TomCat": Terror Tower by Gerald Verner


David Vineyard: Murder on the Ballarat Train by Kerry Greenwood

Bill Wallace: One by David Karp

Diane Monroe and her quartets and more, from Max Roach to Heitor Villa-Lobos and well beyond: Saturday Music Club on Friday

Diane Monroe, improvising violinist

playlist partially selected by her cousin, April Landrum
Diane Monroe's selected media tracks 
Further audio tracks

The Max Roach Double Quartet in Stuttgart, 1990

Max Roach, drums
Cecil Bridgewater, trumpet
Odean Pope, saxophone
Tyrone Brown, bass
Diane Monroe, violin
Lesa Terry, violin
Maxine Roach, viola
and Eileen Folson, cello:
The Max Roach Quartet and the Uptown String Quartet

The Uptown String Quartet at Duke University, 1993


The Uptown String Quartet: "Overture" (Odean Pope)


The Diane Monroe Quartet: "Irish Monk"

Diane Monroe - Violin Tony Miceli - Vibes Tony Marino - Bass Todd Isler - Percussion

The Diane Monroe Quartet: "Blues for Miles"


The Diane Monroe Collective: "Du Bois Diddy"


Diane Monroe and Tony Miceli: "Bachians Brazilieras #5" (Heitor Villa-Lobos)


Diane Monroe, featured soloist, Orchestra 2001:
Canto di Ritorno (Concerto for Violin and Small Orchestra) (Andrew Rudin)


Diane Monroe and Tony Miceli: At Rittenhouse Soundworks, Philadelphia, 22 May 2017


Jose Bowen and Diane Monroe: "After You've Gone"


Melody Gardot (featuring Diane Monroe): "Gone"


Diane Monroe and the Z Big Band: "Funk" (from Concerto for Violin and Big Band by Evan Solot)

...includes nearly four minutes of spoken introduction by others.

Diane Monroe interview: 19 December 2018


Friday, August 16, 2019

FRIDAY'S "FORGOTTEN" BOOKS AND MORE: the links to the reviews: 16 August 2019

This week's books and more, unfairly (or sometimes fairly) neglected, or simply those the reviewers below think you might find of some interest (or, infrequently, you should be warned away from); certainly, most weeks we have a few not at all forgotten titles...if I've missed your review or someone else's, please let me know in comments.


Stacy Alesi: The E List: Fiction Reviews: 1983-2013

Mark Baker: Murder in Chinatown by Victoria Thompson

Brad Bigelow: The Signpost by E. Arnot Robertson 

Les Blatt: Murder in the Maze by J. J. Connington 

Joachim Boaz: The 1977 World's Best SF edited by Donald A. Wollheim and Arthur Saha 

John Boston: Amazing: Fact and Science Fiction Stories, September 1964, edited by Cele Goldsmith Lalli

Cora Buhlert:  Conjure Wife by Fritz Leiber and the other 1944 Retro Hugo Awards winners and nominees; The Secret of Sinharat and People of the Talisman by Leigh Brackett

Brian Busby: Le dernier voyage by Eric C. Morris (A Voice is Calling as translated by Martine Hébert-Duguay)

Martin Edwards: Eighty Dollars to Stamford by Lucille Fletcher

Peter Enfantino and Jack Seabrook: Warren Comics, September/October 1967, edited by Archie Goodwin 

Barry Ergang: The Big Bad City by "Ed McBain" (Evan Hunter) 

Will Errickson: Metahorror edited by Dennis Etchison (and part 2); The Year's Best Horror Stories, Series VII edited by Karl Edward Wagner

José Ignacio Escribano: "Rosendo's Tale" ("Historia de Rosendo Juárez"; La Nación, 9 November 1969, collected in El informe de Brodie/Doctor Brodie's Report);  "Streetcorner Man" ("El hombre de la esquina rosada"; as by "Franciso Buscos", as "Hombre de las orillas", Crítica, 16 September 1933; first collected in Historia universal de la infamia/A Universal History of Infamy) 

Curtis Evans: thriller novels of Robert George Curtis

Olman Feelyus: Gat Heat by Richard S. Prather; Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets by David Simon

"Fred Fitch": "A Most Unusual Snatch" by Lawrence Block; Jimmy the Kid by Donald Westlake


Paul Fraser: Star Science Fiction Stories (initial volume) edited by Frederik Pohl

John Grant: Snow White Must Die by Nele Neuhaus (translated by Steven T. Murray); The Burgess Boys by Elizabeth Strout 

Audrey Hamilton: Arrest the Bishop? by Winnifred Peck; The Verge Practice by Barry Maitland

Bev Hankins: Gaslight Grotesque: Nightmare Tales of Sherlock Holmes edited by J. R. Campbell and Charles Prepolec

Rich Horton: Alan E. Nourse stories; Ward Moore stories; the Villiers series by Alexei Panshin 

Jerry House: Ten of Us: Original Stories and Sketches by Sigmund Bowman aka S. B. Alexander

Kate Jackson: Murder is Absurd by Patricia McGerr; Necessary Evil by Kelley Roos; Wish You Were Dead by Helen McCloy (abridged version of She Walks Alone, as published in Bestseller Mystery Magazine, November 1958, edited by Joseph W. Ferman and Robert P. Mills)

Tracy K: Death Knocks Three Times by "Anthony Gilbert" (Lucy Malleson)

Colman Keane: Others of My Kind by James Sallis 

George Kelley: The Great SF Stories 12 (1950) edited by Isaac Asimov and Martin H. Greenberg

Joe Kenney: The Yashar Pursuit by "Adam Hamilton" (Marilyn Granbeck); Hate is Thicker Than Blood by "Brad Latham" (Richard O'Brien)

Rob Kitchin: The Horseman's Song by Ben Pastor (translated from the Italian, La canzone del cavaliere, by Paola Bonini) 

B. V. Lawson: This Rough Magic by Mary Stewart

Evan Lewis: Tales of Wells Fargo by Frank Gruber

Steve Lewis: Dead Heat by "Paul Ayres" (Edward S. Aarons); The White Mountain Murders by Steve Sherman; Murder Begins at Home by Dale L. Gilbert 

Philip Lopate: "Come into the Roof Garden, Maud" by Djuna Barnes (first published in the New York Press, 14 July 1914)

Steve M: Whiskey River by Ralph Compton

Todd Mason: the anthologies of Betty M. Owen and...


Steven Nester: La Donna Detroit by Jon A. Jackson

John F. Norris: Girl Missing by Edna Sherry

Matt Paust: The Dog Seated Next to Me by Meg Pokrass

James Reasoner: City of Fire by "Andrew Quiller" (Angus Wells) 

Richard Robinson: Time for the Stars by Robert A. Heinlein 

Sandra Ruttan: Hard Man by Allan Guthrie (Ruttan interviews Guthrie) 

Gerard Saylor: "The Last Deep Breath" by Tom Piccirilli; Sex Slave Murders by S. Barri Flowers 

Jack Seabrook: "Murder in Szechwan" by Robert Branson, Collier's, 9 October 1948, edited by Walter Davenport (the Hitchcockepisode reviews so far)

Doreen Sheridan: Briarpatch by Ross Thomas 

Steven H Silver: "The Migration of Darkness" by Peter Payack, Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, August 1979, edited by George H. Scithers 

Kerrie Smith: Forget My Name by J. S. Monroe


"TomCat": The FlimFlam Affair by Bill Pronzini; "The K-Bar-D Murders" by Charles Tomlinson, Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, November 1976, edited by Frederic Dannay

David Vineyard: The Hell Bent Kid by Charles O. Locke; Vice Isn't Private by Brian Cleeve 

Bill Wallace: Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine

Richard Wheeler: Max Perkins: Editor of Genius by A. Scott Berg