Saturday, September 28, 2019

FRIDAY'S "FORGOTTEN" BOOKS AND MORE: the links to reviews: for Banned Books Week: 27 September 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 particularly this week, as we celebrate Banned Books Week...if I've missed your review or someone else's, please let me know in comments. Below, a still featuring the recently late writer Carol Emshwiller and two of her and filmmaker/visual artist Edmund Emshwiller's children...







Patricia Abbott: Brooklyn by Colm Tóibín 

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

Brian Attebery: "The Day Before the Revolution" by Ursula K. Le Guin, Galaxy Science Fiction, August 1974, edited by James Baen

Brad Bigelow: Not Tonight by Kathleen Sully

Paul Bishop: Skywald western comics 

Les Blatt: The Puzzle of the Happy Hooligan by Stuart Palmer; A Puzzle for Fools by "Patrick Quentin"

Joachim Boaz: Frontera by Lewis Shiner  

Brian Busby: No Tears for Goldie by "Jack C. Fleming" (Thomas P. Kelley) 

Steve Carper: Buck Rogers, the newspaper comic strip, by Phil Nowlan and Dick Calkins

Martin Edwards: Hand of Fate by Michael Underwood  

Peter Enfantino and Jack Seabrook: Warren horror comics, July-October 1968, edited by Archie Goodwin 

Barry Ergang: Fever Dream by Dennis Palumbo

Will Errickson: Valley of Lights by Stephen Gallagher 

José Ignacio Escribano: Inspector French's Greatest Case by Freeman Wills Crofts 

Curtis Evans: Raymond Chandler on British crime fiction 

Olman Feelyus: The End of the Night by John D. MacDonald; The Wanderer by "Alain-Fournier" (Henri-Alban Fournier)(translated by Frank Davison) 

Paul Fraser: New Worlds SF, September 1965, edited by Michael Moorcock 

John Grant: Salvation of a Saint by Keigo Higashino (translated by Alexander O. Smith); Ripper by Isabel Allende (translated by Ollie Brock and Frank Wynne); Homicide Trinity by Rex Stout 

Aubrey Hamilton: Appleby's Answer by "Michael Innes" (John Innes Mackintosh Stewart); Up in Smoke by Charlotte Weir

Bev Hankins: The Two-Pound Tram by "William" (aka Kenneth) Newton; The Fate of the Immodest Blonde by "Patrick Quentin" (this time, Hugh Wheeler and Richard Webb) 

Rich Horton: The Gods Themselves by Isaac Asimov among other novels in contention for the Hugo and Nebula Awards in 1973; The Beasts of Kohl by "John Rackham" (John Phillifent); A Planet of Their Own by John Brunner; Hazard by Jo Beverly; Andy Duncan short fiction 

Jerry House: The Diploids by Katherine MacLean; Super Detective Library #74 (1955?): Sherlock Holmes: "The Thames Afire" and "A Scandal in Bohemia" (comics adaptations, the former an original story)

Kate Jackson: It Walks By Night by John Dickson Carr; The Hooded Gunman: An Illustrated History of Collins Crime Club by John Curran 

Jeanne at Bristol, VA, Public Library: If Cats Disappeared from the World by Genki Kawamura (translated by Eric Selland)

Tracy K: Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons: Snowblind by Ragnar Jónasson (translated by Quentin Bates) 

Colman Keane: The Friends of Eddie Coyle by George V. Higgins

George Kelley: Norman Rockwell's America; Freedom and Its Betrayal: Six Enemies of Human Liberty by Isaiah Berlin 

Joe Kenney: Logan's Search by William F. Nolan;
Goodnight, L. A. by Ken Hartman 

Rob Kitchin: The Abrupt Physics of Dying by Paul Hardisty

Nick Kolakowski: A Dance at the Slaughterhouse by Lawrence Block 

Derek Kunsken: Great History of Comics Books by Ron Goulart  

B. V. Lawson: Morse's Greatest Mystery and Other Stories by Colin Dexter 

Des/DF Lewis: Black Static and Interzone, September-October 2019, edited by Andy Cox

Evan Lewis: "Robots Can't Lie" by Robert Leslie Bellem, Fantastic Adventures, July 1941, edited by Raymond Palmer

Steve Lewis: The Bigamist by John Jay Chichester 

John O'Neill: The Opener of the Way (and the House of the Hatchet paperback partial reprint) by Robert Bloch 

Matt Paust: Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China by Jung Chang

James Reasoner: Tough as Nails by Fletcher Nebel

Richard Robinson: City of Corpses by Norvell Page 

Sandra Ruttan: The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas; Banned Books Week 

Gerard Saylor: Kidnap & Ransom by Michelle Gagnon

Jack Seabrook: "Dry Run" by Norman Struber, Manhunt, April 1956, edited by "N. King"

Steven H Silver: "Songbird" by Orson Scott Card (Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact, September 1979, edited by Stanley Schmidt); Betty and Ian Ballantine

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

Kerrie Smith: Sleeping Partner by James Humphreys

Scott Tipple: JLA: Earth 2 by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely

"TomCat": Where There's a Will by "Kip" Chase (Travett C. Chase) 

Bill Wallace: Way Out: A History and Episode Guide to Roald Dahl's Spooky 1961 Television Program by Martin Grams; Evergreen Review, March-April 1960, edited by Barney Rosset; Candy by Terry Southern and Mason Hoffenberg 

Sarah Waters: suggested ghost stories (with reviews from Ed Gorman, Bill Crider and a number of other stalwarts, some still with us...)





Friday, September 20, 2019

FRIDAY'S "FORGOTTEN" BOOKS AND MORE: the links to the reviews: 20 September 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.

This week's least popular book might just be Agatha Christie's Postern of Fate, reviewed by Kate Jackson

Patricia Abbott: Beautiful Ruins by Jesse Walter 

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

Angie Barry: New Orleans Mourning by Julie Smith

Brad Bigelow: Angry Man’s Tale by Peter de Polnay 

Paul Bishop: The Cowboy and the Cossack by Clair Huffaker 

Les Blatt: Sealed Room Murder by Rupert Penny; The Case of the Fighting Soldier by Christopher Bush

Elgin Bleecker: Zero Avenue by Dietrich Kalteis

Joachim Boaz: Orbit 4, edited by Damon Knight 

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

Brian Busby: The Silver Poppy by Arthur Stringer 

Joseph J. Corn: "The First Successful Trip of an Airship" by A. I. Root, Gleanings in Bee Culture, 1 January 1905

Martin Edwards: Dear Laura by Jean Stubbs 

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

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

Will Errickson: The Nightrunners by Joe R. Lansdale; Slob by Rex Miller 

José Ignacio Escribano: Murder in the Maze by "J. J. Connington" (Alfred Walter Stewart); Hallowe'en Party by Agatha Christie 

Curtis Evans: Sudden Death by Freeman Wills Crofts

Olman Feelyus: The Girl from Nowhere by "Rae Foley" (Elinor Denniston); No Orchids for Miss Blandish by James Hadley Chase 

Paul Fraser: New Worlds SF, August 1965, edited by Michael Moorcock 

Barry Gardner: Down in the Zero by Andrew Vachss

Kathleen George: Scoundrels edited by Gary Phillips

John Grant: This Sweet Sickness by Patricia Highsmith; The Courilof Affair by Irène Némirovsky (translated by Sandra Smith) 

Aubrey Hamilton: The Gourmet Detective by Peter King; The Defendants by John Ellsworth 

Bev Hankins: Thrones, Donations by Dorothy L. Sayers and Joan Paton Walsh; The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North; False Scent by Ngaio Marsh; The Case of the Ill-Gotten Goat by Claudia Bishop 

Rich Horton: Tanith Lee stories; Why Do Birds? and stories by Damon Knight; Wil McCarthy stories; Howard Waldrop stories; Steve Rasnic Tem stories

Jerry House: The Silent Death by "Maxwell Grant" (Walter B. Gibson); originally in The Shadow Magazine. 1 April 1933, edited by John Nanovic; Thriller Comics Library, 6 November 1956, "Dick Turpin and the Double-Faced Foe" written by Joan Whitford, story illustrations by Ruggero Giovanni 

Kate Jackson: Stairway to an Empty Room and Terror Lurks in Darkness by Dolores Hitchens; Postern of Fate by Agatha Christie and Agatha Christie's Murder in the Making as edited by John Curran 

Tracy K: More Work for the Undertaker by Margery Allingham 

Colman Keane: Darwin's Nightmare by Mike Knowles

George Kelley: The Great SF Stories 13 (1951) edited by Isaac Asimov and Martin H. Greenberg 

Joe Kenney: Omerta by Peter McCurtin; Fire Bomb by "Stuart Jason" (James Dockery) 

Rob Kitchin: Don't Look Back by Karin Fossum (translated by Felicity David); Tightrope by Simon Mawer 

B. V. Lawson: Final Proof by Marie R. Reno

Evan Lewis: "Waterfront Wildcat" (text story) by Robert Turner, Crash Comics, November 1940 

Steve Lewis: "Small Chances" by Charlaine Harris, Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, September/ October 2016, edited by Janet Hutchings; The Wiseman Originals by Ron Goulart; Wedding Treasure by David Wilson 

Mike S. Lind: The Madhouse in Washington Square by David Alexander

John O'Neill: The Quiet Invasion by Sarah Zettel

Matt Paust: Pnin by Vladimir Nabokov 

James Reasoner: Stampede by "Yukon Miles" (Dan Cushman)

Richard Robinson: The Man in My Grave by Wilson Tucker 

Sandra Ruttan: Sob Story by Carol Anne Davis 

Gerard Saylor: Locked Doors by Blake Crouch 

Steven H Silver: "The Button Molder" by Fritz Leiber, Whispers magazine, October 1979, edited and published by Stuart David Schiff; SF Commentary edited and published by Bruce Gillespie 

Victoria Silverwolf: Worlds of Tomorrow, September 1964, edited by Frederik Pohl; Counterfeit World aka Simulacron-3 by Daniel F. Galouye

Kevin Tipple: Parker Field by Howard Owen

"TomCat": Seeds of Murder by (F.) Van Wyck Mason; "The Case of Murder on D. Hill" aka "D zaka no satsujin-jiken" by "Edogawa Rampo" (Hirai Tarō), first published in Shin-Seinen, January 1925, and as translated by William Varteresian

Mike Tooney: Old-Time Detection, Summer 2019, edited by Arthur Vidro

David Vineyard: Prelude to a Certain Midnight by Gerald Kersh 

Bill Wallace: The Day of the Monkey by David Karp;  The White People by Arthur Machen; Turn Off Your Mind: The Mystic Sixties & the Dark Side of the Age of Aquarius by Gary Lachman



Friday, September 13, 2019

FRIDAY'S "FORGOTTEN" BOOKS AND MORE: the links to the reviews: Friday 13 September 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 F List: Fiction Reviews 1983-2013

Brad Bigelow: Gaëtan, or The Stock-Taking by Edith de Born  


Paul Bishop: the Lance Spearman fumetti/photo-stories by James Richard Abe Bailey in African Film magazine

Les Blatt: Dead Men Don't Ski by Patricia Moyes; Death in Dark Glasses by George Bellairs

Joachim Boaz: Armed Camps by Kit Reed 

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

Paul D. Brazill: The Not Knowing by Cathi Unsworth

Brian Busby: The Watching Cat by Pamela Fry; Constance Beresford-Howe 

Paul Doiron: Black Cherry Blues by James Lee Burke

Martin Edwards: Cold Blood by Leo Bruce

Peter Enfantino and Jack Seabrook: Warren horror comics, February-July 1968 

Will Errickson: Splatterpunks: Extreme Horror edited by Paul Sammon

José Ignacio Escribano: Green for Danger by Christianna Brand; about Brand (Mary Christianna Milne) 

Curtis Evans: The Leavenworth Case by Ana Katherine Green; the works of Ruth Fenisong (aka Ruth Feinsong)

Olman Feelyus: Laura by Vera Caspary; Eichmann in Jerusalem by Hannah Arendt 

Paul Fraser: Anthony Boucher: A Bibliography by Jeffrey Marks 

John Grant: Distress Signals by Catherine Ryan Howard; Lisey's Story by Stephen King 

Aubrey Hamilton: Straw Man by Doris Miles Disney; Sleight of Hand by Philip Margolin 

Bev Hankins: Black Aura by John Sladek; His Bloody Project: Documents Relating to the Case of Roderick Macrae by Graeme Macrae Burnet 

Steve Harper: Superworld Comics edited by Hugo Gernsback

Rich Horton: Pat Cadigan stories; Meeting at Infinity by John Brunner; Beyond the Silver Sky by Kenneth Bulmer; Olympiad by Tom Holt; The Scar by China Miéville; Tony Pi stories

Jerry House: FP1 Does Not Reply by Kurt (aka Curt) Siodmak (translated by H. W. Farrell); Schoolgirls' Picture Library #15: "Schoolgirls to the Rescue"

Kate Jackson: The Short Weekend by T. S. Strachan; Go, Lovely Rose and The Evil Wish by Jean Potts; The Mystery of the Peacock's Eye by Brian Flynn; Deep Waters edited by Martin Edwards

Tracy K: Champagne for One by Rex Stout

Colman Keane: Sara Gran


George Kelley: Lost Transmissions: The Secret History of Science Fiction and Fantasy edited by Deserina Boskovic

Joe Kenney: Death of an Informer by "Will Perry" (W. J. Weatherby); MIA Hunter #9: Invasion U.S.S.R. by "Jack Buchanan" (Stephen Mertz and Arthur Moore)

Rob Kitchin: The Three Evangelists by "Fred Vargas" (Frédérique Audoin-Rouzeau) (translated by Sian Leonard); Gravesend by William Boyle 

Derek Kumsken: The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon

B. V. Lawson: The Bait by Dorothy Uhnak 

Xavier Lechard: John Dickson Carr and Edward D. Hoch 

Brian Leno: "Fungus Isle" by Philip M. Fisher, Argosy All-Story Weekly, 27 October 1923, edited by Archibald Bittner

Evan Lewis: "Their Guardian from Hell" by Norbert Davis, Star Western, March 1937, edited by Rogers Terril

Steve Lewis: "The House Party at Smoky Island" by L. M. Montgomery, Weird Tales, August 1935, edited by Farnsworth Wright; Tanner's Tiger by Lawrence Block; Robbers by Peter Whalley; Katwalk by Karen Kijewski


James McGlothlin: The Best of L. Sprague de Camp


James David Nicholl: collections by Mildred Clingerman, Margaret St. Clair (edited by Ramsey Campbell), Katherine MacLean, C. L. Moore and Henry Kuttner (as selected by David Curtis), and Rediscovery: Science Fiction by Women 1958-63 edited by Gideon Marcus 

John O'Neill: Minds Unleashed edited by Groff Conklin; Strange Invasion by Michael Kandel

Matt Paust: Super Sad True Love Story by Gary Shteyngart 

James Reasoner: The Case of the Glamorous Ghost by Erle Stanley Gardner

Richard Robinson: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

Sandra Ruttan: African Psycho by Alain Mabanckou (translated by Christine Schwartz Hartley)

Gerard Saylor: Bread and Butter by Michelle Widgen; The Secret Place by Tana French

Jack Seabrook: "The Chinless Wonder" by Stanley Abbott, Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, January 1965, edited by G. F. Foster, and the Alfred Hitchcock Presents: scripts of Arthur Ross

Steven H Silver: debut sf novels of 1979

"TomCat": The Billiard-Room Mystery by Brian Flynn

David Vineyard: A Kind of Anger by Eric Ambler 

Lisa Yaszek: "Mr. Sakrison's Halt" by Mildred Clingerman 

Bill Wallace: Weird Tales, February 1926, edited by Farnsworth Wright; The Magic Christian by Terry Southern