WHISPERS -- Stuart David Schiff, editor

Doubleday & Company -- hc
New York -- ©1977 -- 226pp
ISBN: 0-385-12568-2
illustrations by: Stephen Fabian, Lee Brown Coye, Mike Garcia, Tim Kirk, Frank Utpatel, George Barr

A collection of short stories, most of which appeared in the magazine, Whispers.

"Sticks" - Karl Edward Wagner
"The Barrow Troll" - David Drake
"The Glove" - Fritz Leiber
"The Closer of the Way" - Robert Bloch
"Dark Winner" - William F. Nolan
"Ladies in Waiting" - Hugh B. Cave
"White Moon Rising" - Dennis Etchison
"Graduation" - Richard Christian Matheson
"Mirror, Mirror" - Ray Russell
"The House of Cthulhu" - Brian Lumley
"Antiquities" - John Crowley
"A Weather Report From the Top of the Stairs" - James Sallis and David Lunde
"The Scallion Stone" - Basil A. Smith
"The Inglorious Rise of the Catsmeat Man" - Robin Smyth
"The Pawnshop" - Charles E. Fritch
"Le Miroir" - Robert Aickman
"The Willow Platform" - Joseph Payne Brennan
"The Dakwa" - Manly Wade Wellman
"Goat" - David Campton
"The Chimney" - Ramsey Campbell

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It's been a while since I read a collection of horror tales, and this was a nice sampling. Standouts, for me, were David Campton's "Goat," and Fritch's "The Pawnshop" and Wagner's "Sticks." Each of them seemed the most compelling, realistic, and horrific in their own way. Robin Smyth's "...Catsmeat Man" was also quite intriquing. Seemed like it could have been the impetus for "Sweeny Todd" but I suppose the idea of a butcher cutting up people has been around for a long time.

None of the stories were horrible, which shows that Schiff has done a good job of putting together this collection.

"Weather Report from the Top of The Stairs" was my least favorite in this collection. The story, written, based on a cartoon by Gahan Wilson, included two endings...the original by the authors and a rewrite (change of maybe two words?) at the request of the editor and cartoonist. Even with the variation, it lacked the meat that Wilson's fabulous cartoons manage to have.

A fun trip into the speculative/horror world.

GRAVITY BUSTER: JOURNAL#2 OF A CARDBOARD GENIUS -- Frank Asch

Kids Can Press -- hc
Tonawanda, NY -- ©2007 -- 143pp
ISBN: 1-55453-068-7

A young boy plans to pilot his cardboard spaceship to the stars, with his favorite female friend as a co-pilot, but first he must over-come his younger brother's nuisances.

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This looked like a book that my son might like, so I checked it out from the library and gave it a quick read.

I liked the idea, but not the execution.

A young boy-inventor, creating great magical (scientific) devices from ordinary household items, including cardboard boxes, is genius. What boy hasn't done this?! But there was too much focus on the sibling relationship and the hope of getting the girl ... a friend, not a girl-friend! ... to join him.

For such a short, quick book (144 pages, but large type and plenty of illustrations) it tried to do too much.

My son said it was "okay" and I agree.

ABSURDISTAN - Gary Shteyngart

Random House -- tpb
New York -- ©2006 -- 333pp
ISBN: 978-0-8129-7

An obese Russian Jew looks for love and happiness in a world mostly set against him.

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According to the New York Times, this is one of the ten best books of the year. What a sad year for literature was 2007!

I wanted very much to like this, and there were moments when I smiled at a phrase or passage or even a bit of biting satire, but over-all this was nothing more than literary masturbation ... an author trying to show off how clever he is rather than actually engaging a reader in a story. And, quite frankly, the story doesn't even begin until nearly a third of the way into the book.

I'm no prude when it comes to literature, but I definitely didn't need so much of the obese man's sex life told to me so often and in such detail. Is it funny, once, that such a fat man describes his trials at love-making? Maybe. Is it funny that we have to revisit that over and over? No.

I loved the idea of a country, Absurdisvani, with no more oil and over-looked by the U.S., throwing the wool over Hallibutron's eyes and lying about their oil reserves. This is the story. This is what could have been a great satirical novel. Even focusing on a single individual such as the obese Misha Vainberg, the son of a Russian Jew, could have worked, but it wasn't the story of Absurdistan, it was the story of an obese, spoiled, rich, Russian Jew looking for some meaning in his life. I guess I should have known (remembered) that when the first sentence of the prologue reads, "This is a book about love."

I never cared about Misha, and thus I never cared about his life.

TRAVESTIES - Tom Stoppard

Grove Press - tpb
New York - 1975 - 71pp
ISBN: 0-8021-5089-6
two act play

The fantastical meeting of James Joyce, Dadist founder Tristan Tzara, and Lenin as only someone like Tom Stoppard can tell it.

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This is a moderately difficult book to read, but as is the case with a play, it is meant to be seen, not necessarily just read.

I had to work very hard at visualizing this, putting myself in the roles of both audience member and director. When I was able to do that (I wasn't always consistent with this) I found that I greatly enjoyed the interaction between the characters.

I'm not at all familiar with the works of James Joyce (or Lenin or Tristan Tzara for that matter), but I liked the character as presented and would assume this to be an enjoyable role for a performer and a delight to watch.

I don't recommend this as a book to read, but a good production would likely be a real treat.

STAR TREK 2 - James Blish

Bantam Books -- pb
New York -- ©1968/11th printing 1972 -- 122p
(so old no ISBN number)


A collection of short stories based on original episodes of the classic television show, Star Trek. Episodes (and their original authors):

Arena (Gene L. Coon)
A Taste of Armageddon (Robert Hamner and Gene L. Coon)
Tomorrow Is Yesterday (D.C. Fontana)
Errand of Mercy (Gene L. Coon)
Court Martial (Don M. Mankiewicz and Steven W. Carabatsos)
Operation--Annihilate! (Steven W. Carabatsos)
City on the Edge of Forever (Harlan Ellison)
Space Seed (Carey Wilber and Gene L. Coon)

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Nostalgia.

Opening this book brings me back to the very first time I read this -- back in the very early 1970's. (This particular copy is the 11th printing and still it has no ISBN number.) Back to a time when I had to rely on the local television station to broadcast old Star Trek episodes in order to watch them. There were no DVDs or even VCR tapes. You couldn't record them (only by audio cassette). So these printed stories were little nuggets of gold to fanatical young Trekkers such as myself.

Reading these now I still get somewhat the same kick. Occassionally Blish embellished his stories with a little more insight into what motivated some of the characters. This is appreciated and enjoyable.

Though perhaps just as often, the stories raced through the plot, leaving out some of the finer details. The retelling of "Space Seed" fits this latter. There seems to be no threat from Khan, but suddenly he has his entire crew aboard the Enterprise and is holding the entire crew hostage and then just as suddenly, Kirk has regained control. The battle between men, between leaders, between centuries, never takes place as it does in the episode.

And while this was enjoyable and I'll probably reread all the books in this series, I'm still more likely to throw a DVD in the machine and watch an episode.

RABBIT HOLE -- David Lindsay-Abaire

Theatre Communications Group -- tpb
New York -- ©2006 -- 157pp
ISBN: 978-1-55936-290-0
Two Act Play
2007 Pulitzer Prize for Drama

A drama of a family grieving and trying to come to terms with life after the accidental death of their four year old son.

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So much anticipation when I started out to read this. So many glowing reviews, a Pulitzer Prize, a very good playwright... and I finished it with a sighed, "Eh."

The writing was crisp, clear. The characters seemed to be real people working through grief in their idividual ways. And that, is what the play is about...how we work through grief, to keep living when a loved one isn't.

Of course the loved one had to be a child. The grief for a child is so much more different than the grief for a parent.

But as I read this, I couldn't help but wonder why I was reading it. Why would I want to see this? I don't think that it explored anything new, or even touched on anything old in a new way.

It was, as many have labeled it, a slice of realism. But why is that important? I can stop in at the local church during a funeral to see realism. I can walk through my home town the day after the flood and experience the realism of grief.

This play didn't do anything for me. Sorry

PLAUTUS: THREE COMEDIES -- Titus Maccius Plautus

Translated (and with an introduction and notes) by Erich Segal
Bantam Books -- pb
New York -- 1969 --298pp
ISBN: 0-553-21169-2

Three rollicking funny plays from about 200 B.C.

The Braggart Soldier
The Brothers Menaechmus
The Haunted House

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I am so incredibly impressed with the Roman comedies. Whether Plautus or Menander, these authors knew what was funny. And in looking back on it, we learn that what is truy funny, stands the test of time. Good humor is based on the human condition, and that hasn't changed much over the centuries.

Translator, Erich Segal, does a fantastic job of keeping the meaning and style and rhythm of the lines, as well as the alliteration.

It can be a difficult trap, reading verse, but when one makes the effort to ignore the rhyme and focus on content, the results are well worth the read. I consider myself to be pretty adept at reading verse plays, but I noticed more than once that I had fallen into the trap of reading the rhyme and lost the sense of what I was reading and had to backtrack.

Of the plays themselves, The Braggart Soldier and The Brothers Menaechmus had me the most interested.

I mentioned the human condition and how it hasn't changed much. Take for example, this humorous section from The Braggart Soldier in which the slave Palaestrio talks to the old man Periplectomenus about marriage. The old man is dead set against it:

Per: Mine's the house of freedom --I am free-- I live my life for me./Thank
the gods, I'm rich enough. I could've married very well,/ Could've led a
wealthy wife of high position to the altar,/ But I wouldn't want to lead a
barking dog into my house!

Pal: Yet remember -- children can be pleasant -- and it's fun to breed
'em.

Per: You can breed 'em, give me freedom! That, by Hercules, is fun!

...

I'd be glad to marry someonewho would turn to me and ask me,/ "Dearest
husband, buy some wool, so I can make some clothes for you,/ First a tunic, soft
and warm, and then a cloak for winter weather,/ So you won't be
cold. " You'd never hear a wife say things like that!/ Why, before
the cock would crow, she'd shake me from my sleep and say,/ "Husband! Give
me money for a New Year's gift to give my mother!..."

And in The Brother Menaechmus, Menaechmus leaves his house and shrewish wife to hopefully visit his lover and he says:

However often I try to go out you detain me, delay me, demand such details
as/ Where I'm going, what I'm doing, what's my business all about,/ Deals I'm
making, undertaking, what I did when I was out./ I don't have a wife, I have a
customs office bureaucrat,/ For I must declare the things I've done, I'm doing,
and all that!

And even The Haunted House has a chacater make an aside: "Haven't you got smelly wives whose only perfume is their dowry?"

It would seem, from these great plays, that sex, fidelity, infidelity, and the desire to have the best of both worlds (a stable home life and the ability to sleep with anyone/anytime) is as timeless as written history.

Briefly, The Braggart Soldier is about just that... a soldier who considers himself beyond compare. He is given his one-upance by his slave who manages to trick the soldier out of the beautiful woman by convincing him that she has a twin and he drops her for her false sister.

The Brothers Menaechmus is about, as expected, a set of twins, both named Menaechmus (they were separated at birth and the caretakers for each thought that they had the chjild named Menaechmus). One is married and living in town and dallying with his girlfriend at every chance. The other just arrives in town and is confused for the local, which of course only creates more confusions.

The Haunted House is so named because the son and slave try to trick the father/master out of coming back into his house, telling him it is haunted, when in reality he is using it as a massive party house.

All fantastic and well worth reading. If only more schools and theatres would perform these hilarious classics!

RIVERS WEST -- Louis L'Amour

Bantam Book -- pb
New York -- ©1975 -- 179pp
ISBN: 0-553-25436-7

When a young ship-builder stumbles upon a dying man, he also stumbles upon a plot to take over the western frontier. A beautiful woman leads the charge against the nefarious plot.

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Although I don't generally admit it in casual conversation, I believe that I own nearly every Louis L'Amour book out there.

Louis L'Amour was not a great writer, but he was a good storyteller. He knew how to craft a story that keeps your interest as you read. Usually.

This particular book was work for me. It took three or four chapters before I felt interested enough in the main character, and then I struggled to keep caring. Also, whether it's unique to this particular book or common in L'Amour books, I'm not sure, but there was an awful lot of lucky coincidence that kept our main hero moving forward in his goal. In this particular book, he was left for dead in the river, but by coincidence he was picked up by a friendly gentleman in a small craft at the last possible moment. And by lucky coincidence, that gentlemen had some information that would prove to be useful in the hero's quest. And so it goes.

I've also decided that I'm a little tired of L'Amour's need to have a boxing scene in his novels. His wiry, smaller heros always seemed to have great skill with the fists and are able to take down the local, undefeated Goliaths.

It wasn't a terrible read, but it didn't capture me like other L'Amour novels have

MINNESOTA IMPRESSIONISTS -- Rena Neumann Coen

Afton Historical Society Press -- hc
Afton, Minnesota -- ©1996 -- 95pp
ISBN: 0-9639338-6-8

A look at Minnesota artists with a reputation in the impressionists methods.

"Foreward" -- William H. GerdtsAcknowledgements
Introduction
Arthur R. Allie (1872-1953)
Gertrude Barnes (1865-1926?)
Nicholas Richard Brewer (1857-1949)
Samuel Chatwood Burton (1881-1947)
Elisabeth Augusta Chant (186-1947)
Edwin M. Dawes (1872-1945)
Axel David Erickson (1869-1946)
Alexis Jean Fournier (1865-1948)
Anton Gag (1859-1908)
Herbjorn Gausta (1854-1924)
Alexander Grinager (1865-1949)
Sven August (Knute) Helder (1877-1952)
Alice Hugy (1876-1971)
Louise Kelly (?-1948)
Robert Koehler (1850-1917)
Alice Sumner Le Duc (1868-1962)
Philipp Little (1857-1942)
Clara Mairs (1878-1963)
Homer Dodge Martin (1836-1897)
Magnus Norstad (1884-?)
Nathaniel Fousette-Dart (1886-1965)
Carl Wendell Rawson (1884-1970)
Clarence Clark Rosenkranz (1871-1959)
Ada Augusta Wolfe (1878-1945)

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I was surprsied at just how much I enjoyed reading and looking through this book. I tend to think of impressionists as being the Monet, pastel ponds and lily-pads types of paintings, but some of these works were very moving.

Outstanding to me were Brewer, Burton, Ericson, Fournier, Koehler, and Norstad. Their works were stong, moving, vibrant and full of the passion of the artist(s).

That each of these artists had ties to Minnesota (my home state) made it all the more interesting. I know many of the areas that they painted.

A rich book, well worth reading.

DEATH BY PAD THAI: AND OTHER UNFORGETTABLE MEALS -- Douglas Bauer, ed

Three Rivers Press -- tpb
New York -- 2006 -- 239pp
ISBN: 0-307-33784-7

"20 Great Writers on Romance, Disappointment, Family, Celebration, and the Meals That Inspired Them."

Introduction (Ramos Gin Fizz) -- Douglas Bauer
"Foodums" (Pears Poached in Seasoned Wine for Two) -- Sue Miller
"La Divina Commedia" -- Amy Bloom
"Fried Peppers" -- Michael Gorra
"Full" -- Elizabeth McCracken
"Home" -- Andre Dubus III
"Food Envy" (Dori's Mom's Tuna Fish) -- Aimee Bender
"Stir Gently and Serve" -- Jane Stern
"Surf and Turf" (Surf; Turf) -- Richard Russo
"Beach Food" (Clams with Garlic and Wine; Seafood Soup; Lazy Blueberry Cobbler) -- Michelle Wildgen
"By the River Cousin" -- Claire Messud
"My Dinner with Andy Warhol's Friends" -- Michael Stern
"How I Learned to Eat" -- Peter Mayle
"My Life in Food" -- Ann Packer
"Dinner With Seamus" -- Henri Cole
"The Longest Hour" (My Stepmother's Fish Cakes, with Some Variations) -- Margot Livesey
"A Feast of Preparations" (Nougat Glace with Raspberry Sauce) -- David Lehman
"The Handsome Tutor at Lunch" (Robaire's Chicken Liver Omelet) -- Michelle Huneven
"Yes" -- Lan Samantha Chang
"The Place We Came From" (The Best and Simplest Yogurt in the World) -- Diana Abu-Jaber
"Death by Lobster Pad Thai: A Counter-Phobic Paena to Friendship,Crustaceans, and Oral Transcendence" -- Steve Almond
About the Contributors

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For the most part, nothing here was particularly memorable, with the exception of Steve Almond's bit of comic relief, and Michael Stern's tale of perhaps one of the worst dining evening ever.

None of the essays were bad. While reading them I was usually moderately engaged, but except for the two mentioned, they didn't stay with me.

DEAD MEN TAPPING -- Kate Yeomans

Dead Men Tapping: The End of the Heather Lynne II
International Marine/McGraw Hill -- hc
Camden, ME -- 2004 -- 403pp
ISBN: 0-007-138034-5

A thoroughly researched account of the wreck and attempted search and rescue of an ocean fishing vessel.

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I was mightly impressed with the research and writing of this book. Though a hefty 400 pages, it read smoothly.

Occassionally, early on, I was disappointed with the side-tracks ... the reporting on other vessel wrecks or seaches or the history of some of the people, but as I got further into it I realized how it helped create a complete picture of the incident in question.

A good read of a disappointing loss of life.

THE ENTERTAINER AND THE DYBBUK -- Sid Fleischman

Greenwillow Books -- hc
New York -- 2008 -- 180pp
ISBN: 978-0-06-134446-6

A second rate ventriloquist is inhabited by the spirit of a Jewish boy, murdered by a Nazi, who is seeking vengeance on the man who killed him.

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** spoiler alert **

I understand the need to tell the stories of the holocaust.

It is a personal need, it is a community need, it is a historical need. It is something that shouldn't be forgotten -- just how horrible a people can be. But does this need translate to quality work? Not always.

I was uncomfortable with this book as a book for children. Having said that, I know that I am supposed to be uncomfortable ... it's an uncomfortable situation, and the murdering of children by such nefarious means should never get comfortable. And yet...I'm torn.

In the balance to always try to protect my children and yet make them aware of history (including atrocious history) I have to draw some lines. To me, this book crosses some of those lines. It is forthright in descriptions. It is a book full of vengeance and revenge. And I'm not sure I approve of the ending. Not because of what the dybbuk does, but because I don't think he could tolerate it.

***WARNING SPOILER ALERT FOLLOWS***

Yes, I can understand that by having the dybbuk inhabit the Nazi responsible for killing him would be a terrible burden for the Nazi to live with the rest of his life, after hearing the dybbuk complain on how uncomfortable it was to inhabit the ventriloquists body, I can't imagine what it would be like for a Jewish soul to live in a Nazi's body. Wouldn't the torture be two-sided?

Just not a recommended book from me.

MISSION TO HORATIUS -- Mack Reynolds

MISSION TO HORATIUS (A Star Trek Novel)
Pocket Books -- hc
New York -- 1968, 1999 -- 210pp
ISBN: 0-671-02812-X
Illustrated by Sparky Moore

A reprint of a Whitman book. Had been out of print for 30 years.

The starship Enterprise receives a distress call from a system that has been virtually ignored since it's initial founding. The crew race to track down the distress signal while battling cafard -- a space sickness from being away too long without leave.

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Wow, does this bring back some memories!

I believe that I may have read this after picking it up in a used book store some 25 years or so ago.

I fully admit to being the Star Trek nerd and enjoying Star Trek novels. There's something very comfortable in reading books with characters who are so incredibly familiar to me.

The plot is paper thin and the characters less well developed than the average television episode. Some characters seemed to be named just for the sake of making sure to include them, but had no real role to play, and even their little moments were moderately out of character.

It was like reading exactly what it was ... a television-show-based book, by someone with only passing knowledge of the characters, using a stock plot.

It won't get a very high rating from me, but as a Star Trek nerd, I'm glad I read it.

RAIDERS FROM THE SEA -- Lois Walfrid Johnson

Raiders from the Sea: Viking Quest book one
Moody Publishers -- tpb
Chicago -- ©2003 -- 199pp
ISBN: 080243112-7

Viking raid a village in Ireland, taking a young Christian girl captive.

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I quite enjoyed Lois Walfrid Johnson's first series "Adventures in the North Woods" and moderately enjoyed her second series, "The Riverboat Adventures." This series departs from the earlier two in that this book was not a mystery, and had no true conclusion to the story, as the first two series' did.

The history was still apparently well researched, though I felt that the young girl was a tad too modern to truly be living in this time and place.

I never felt completely caught up in the story, and have a real negative reaction to any story that doesn't have a natural conclusion at the end of a book but rather requires one tow buy and read the next book installment.

I'll read more, but I won't race to get the next books.

RUBBER HOUSES -- Ellen Yeomans

Little, Brown and Company -- hc
New York -- 2007 -- 152pp
ISBN: 0-316-10647-X

Told entirely in verse, a high-school aged girl tells the story of her little brother's bout with cancer and his death.

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Yeoman's tackles the delicate subject again, of the death of a youngster. I know Ellen, and I know that it is a demon she is battling constantly.

I'm not sold on the idea of telling this story through a series of poems -- in large part, of course, because I so dislike reading poetry myself. That said, hoever, I thought this story was told a little easier, and more convincingly because of its unique format. It seems totally plausible that a teenage girl would write a great deal of poetry and tell this story in that way.

However, I did feel that some opportunities were missed. A girl writing poetry might not write so directly, all the time, about what has happened, but a sense of when she's feeling ought to come about in some more mundane writings. None of the poems were simple, everyday, kinds of writing that I thought should occur. For instance, suppose she wrote a couple of poems early in the book about liking cats, but at some point after her brother's death she writes a poem about a cat that got in her way and how she hates cats. That's the sort of opportunity missed here.

Even so, I enjoyed the writing more than I expected, and thought this did a good job of getting to the heart of a teenager.