BITS AND PIECES

Openers:  It was month of January, 1516.

The night was dark and tempestuous; the thunder growled around; the lightning flashed at short intervals:  and the wind swept furiously along in sudden and fitful gusts.

The streams of the great Black Forest of Germany babbled in playful melody no more, but rushed on with deafening din, mingling their torrent roar with the wild creaking of the huge oaks, the rustling of the firs, the howling of the affrighted wolves, and the hollow voices of the storm.

The dense black clouds were driving restlessly athwart the sky; and when the vivid lightening gleaned forth with rapid and eccentric glare, it seemed as if the dark jaws of some hideous monster, floating high above, opened to vomit flame.

And as the abrupt but furious gusts of wind swept through the forest, they raised strange echoes -- as if the impervious mazes of that might wood were the abode of hideous fiends and evil spirits, who responded in shrieks, moans, and lamentations to the fearful din of the tempest.

It was, indeed, an appalling night!

And old-old man sat in his cottage on the verge of the Black Forest.

He had numbered ninety years; his head was completely bald -- his mouth was toothless -- his long beard was white as snow, and his limbs were feeble and trembling.

-- Wagner, the Wehr-Wolf by George W. M. Reynolds (first serialized in weekly installments in Reynold's Miscellany from November 6, 1846 to July 24, 1847; issued in two volumes by John Dicks, London, 1855; first american publication:  Norman L. Munro, New York, 1855; reprinted many times and available in many online locations and free on Amazon Kindle.)

You might be forgiven for thinking this book could well have begun, "It was a dark and stormy night."  The bloated melodrama and purple prose are indicative of its origin as a "penny dreadful," but Wagner, the Wehr-Wolf holds an important place in gothic literature.  It was the first major treatment of the werewolf them in English literature and despite all its jumpstart gooseflesh raising verbiage-- with its moody backgrounds, haunted castles, graverobbing, supernatural encounters, deals with the devil, many grisly murders, the dual threats of the Inquisition and the Ottoman Empire, and obligatory cliffhangers at the end of every chapter --  remains a highly readable and entertaining thriller, as well as a sequel to Reynolds' penny dreadful Faust: A Romance of the Secret Tribunals (serialized. 1845-46; published in book form, 1847).

Ferdinand Wagner is the old shepherd living on the edge of the Black Forest.  He makes a deal with John Faust to have youth, wealth, and intelligence in exchange for being a werewolf for eighteen months.  The story unfolds in Renaissance Florence, where a now-young and wealthy Wagner begins his encounters with a vast cast of characters, a love interest, and a web of intrigue murder and supernatural occurrences.

The author (1814-1879), the son of a Navy Captain, was intended for the military but dropped out of school when  his parents died when he was fifteen and inherited a decent fortune, determining instead to pursue a literary career.  He traveled, became a naturalized French citizen and started a daily English newspaper in Paris, which eventually failed and bankrupted him.  He returned to England, and began writing popular fiction in 1835.  Between 1837 and 1838 be was editor of The Monthly Magazine; in 1840, Reynolds began as editor of The Teetotaler, a weekly journal abjuring the dangers of alcohol.  Although mainly forgotten today. during his lifetime, Reynolds was the most popular author in England. outselling Dickens and Thackeray. His best-known work was The Mysteries of London (1844. which borrowed liberally from Eugene Sue's Les Mysteres de Paris, 1842-1843), and its follow-up The Mysteries of the Court of London -- both seminal works of the Victorian "urban mysteries" genre.

A major figure in the chartist movement -- a working class movement dedicated to political reform in the United Kingdom, Reynolds founded two magazines in 1846, Reynolds' Miscellany and The London Journal, and in 1849 founded Reynolds' Political Instructor (later Reynolds' Weekly Newspaper, and still later, The Sunday Citizen).   At least seventeen of the forty-one novels definitely attributed to Reynolds were first serialized in Reynolds' Miscellany, as well as six short stories; one novel was serialized in The London Journal, which also printed two of his short stories.  Reynolds also published five nonfiction books, a volume of poetry, and a translation of Victor Hugo.

Almost all of Reynolds' works are available online,

Incoming:

• "Avi" (Edward Wortis), City of Light, City of Dark.  Young adult graphic novel.   "Carlos and Sarah don't know about the token's power when it falls into their hands.  But soon their future and the token's future are entirely intertwined.  If it isn't returned to a certain place by noon on December 21st, their city will freeze.  But Carlos and Sarah must keep it at all costs -- even as their enemies close in and some dark secrets from Sarah's history -- also intertwined with the token -- are revealed.  It's a race against darkness.  It's a race against the lies of the past.  And, most of all, it's a race against time."
• Greg Bear, Quatico.  Science fiction thriller.  "It's the second decade of the twenty-first century, and terrorism has escalated almost beyond control.  The Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem has been blown to bits by extremists, and, in retaliation, thousands have died in another major attack on the United States.  New weapons are being spawned in remote basement labs, and non one feels safe.  In North America, the FBI uses cutting edge technology to thwart domestic terrorists.  Sat-linked engine blockers stop drug-traffickers sold.  Devices the size of Magic Markers  test for biohazards on the spot.  3-D projectors  reconstruct crime scenes from hours-old evidence, and sophisticated bomb suits protect against all but the most savage forces.  Despite all this, War on Terror has reached a deadly stalemate.  Now the FBI has been dispatched to deal with a new menace.  A plague targeted to ethnic groups -- Jews or Muslims or both -- has the potential to wipe out the entire population.  But the FBI itself is under political assault.  William Griffin, Fouad Al-Husam, and Jane Rowland will be part of the last class at Quantico.  As the young agents hunt a brilliant homegrown terrorist, they join forces with veteran bio-terror expert Rebecca Rose.  But the plot they uncover -- and the man they chase -- prove to be far more complex than anyone expects."
• Ben Bova, The Dueling Machine.  Science fiction, the third and final book in the Star Watch series.  The dueling machine, the perfect pacifier for all man's tensions.  You can enter a world of your own, destroy your enemy or be destroyed by him, and emerge from your fantasy world completely unharmed.  Dr. Leoh, creator of this ultimate placebo, could not believe that someone had now found a way to use his machine as a tool for destruction,  But apparently someone had.  And now this someone, Dictator Kanus of Kerak, was using the dueling machine to conquer the Acquataine Cluster.  Leoh realized it was up to him to stop Kanus before the man began a war of conquest against the Terran Commonwealth and Star Watch.  But how, equipped only with an eccentric and bumbling Star Watch Lieutenant and his dueling machine itself, was he to accomplish this?  And even if Leoh could discover how the dueling machine was being turned into a death machine, could he stop Kanus and his cohorts before civilization ended in an intergalactic war?"
• Glen Cook, October's Baby Fantasy, the fourth book (of eight) in the Dread Empire series.  "Cradled in swords, the War-Child comes.  October.  When the leaves turn blood nd the wind turns bone:  a time for doings dark and strange,  The princess bears a child to the winged thing and the cries are heard far beyond the peak of Dragon's Teeth, at the end of the world's Beginning, where Nepanthe and Mocker wait for the war that wizards dread..."
• Colin Cotterill, The Amok Runners.  Mystery, a Jimm Juree mystery prequel.  "In this prequel to the three popular published novels featuring the intrepid lady journalist and sleuth Jimm Juree, she is living with her strange family in the north of Thailand.  Sent undercover by her newspaper to sample life as an extra on a Hollywood movie being made in the region, she is accompanied by her two brothers, Sissy and Arny, and their Burmese friend and history professor Khin.  Murder and mayhem soon show their faces as Jimm tries solve the mystery on why so much is going wrong on the movie set.  Jimm, Sissy and Arny soon attract the Hollywood stars into their orbit while encouraging Khin to follow her dream of finding the treasure King Mangrai buried locally seven hundred years ago."
• "Brian Craig" (Brian Stablefore),   Storm Warriors.  Gaming tie-in to the Warhammer universe; the final book in the Orfeo trilogy, "a series of macabre fantasies told by the minstrel Orfeo of the struggle against the dark powers that threatens the Warhammer  world...a story of terror, betrayal and evil Dark Elves in the ancient haunted land of Albion."
• [Michael Crichton] - The Andromeda Evolution.  Written by Daniel H. Wilkson, although Crichton's name is in the LARGEST print on the cover; a follow-up to Crichton's The Andromeda Strain.  "In 1967, an extraterrestrial microbe -- designated the Andromeda Strain -- came crashing down to Earth and nearly ended the human race.  A team of top scientists assigned to Project Wildfire worked valiantly to save the world from an epidemic of unimaginable proportions.  In the ensuing decades, research on the microparticle continued.  And the world thought it was safe.   Deep inside Fairchild Air Force Base, Project Eternal Vigilance has continued to watch and wait for the Andromeda Strain to reappear.  For years, the project has registered no activity -- until now.  A Brazilian terrain-mapping drone has detected a bizarre anomaly of otherworldly matter, and worse yet, the tell-tale chemical signature of the deadly microparticle.  Now the next generation Project Wildfire i dispatched to investigate the potentially apocalyptic threat.  But the microbe is growing -- evolving."
• Jack Dann & Gardner Dozier, editors, Nanotech.  Science fiction anthology of nine stories and one poem about nanotechnology.  Authors are Step[hen Baxter, Greg Bear, Paul di Filippo, Greg Egan, Michael Flynn, Kathleen Ann Goonan, Nancy Kress, Geoffrey Landis, David Marusek, and Ian McDonald.
• Gordon R. Dickson, The Chantry Guild.  Science fiction, a novel in Dickson's Childe Cycle.  'a lone ship entering Earth space rouses Hal Mayne from his researches aboard the Final Encyclopedia.  Piloting the craft is Dorsai Amanda Morgan, returning from her work with resistance fighters of the Younger Worlds, bearing terrible -- though not unexpected -- news.  Bleys Ahrens, commanding the cross-cultural hybrids known as the Others, is tightening his deadly hold on the Younger Worlds, bleeding them of able adults and materials with which to build a space war fleet.  With a massive attack through the phase-shield he will cause the Younger Worlds to wither and die, once more confining the human race on Earth,  Amanda beckons Hal to the planet Kultis, where the monastery-like settlement of the Chantry Guild has mastered the powerful Alternate Forces so inextricably linked to the Creative Universe Hal resolutely sought...so secretly guarded behind their motto:  DESTRUCT.  As the Occupational Troops close in on the Guild's enclave, all the years of struggle -- all the lives Hal has lived -- converge in what may be humanity's final critical moment."  Also, The Hour of the Horde.  Science fiction.  "As a horde of monstrous travelers advance through space annihilating everything before it, a super-defense force, consisting of one especially talented man from each as yet untouched planet, converges in an attempt to turn back the horde.  Miles Vander, Earth's representative, finds himself with a small group regarded as the less 'civilized' of the defending force.  But in the final showdown, it is these creatures capable of independent action and raw courage who give a surprising twist to this galactic cliffhanger..."
• Craig Dirgo, Tremor.  A John Taft thriller.  "More than one hundred years ago, inventor Nikola Tesla created a device for transferring electricity without wires.  It was supposed to be his greatest triumph   Instead, his invention spawned a nightmare.  And the nightmare has returned...After the National intelligence Agency tracks unusual surges of electricity emanating from the former Yugoslavia, Special Agent John Taft is dispatched to investigate the phenomenon.  He uncovers a conspiracy of terror led by a fanatical Serbian nationalist and powered by a machine capable of targeting any location on the globe -- and causing apocalyptic earthquakes to strike on command.  Now, as the terrorists fell cities at will with their earth-shattering weapon, Taft must fight a battle on dangerous ground, against an unstable foe whose greatest desire is to control the world -- or destroy it."
• Tannanarive Due, My Soul to Keep.  Horror, the first book in a series of four.  "Jessica is an African-American journalist as ambitious as she is bright.  she is chasing the biggest story of her life, a story that strikes closer to home than she knows.  Dawit is an immortal whose ancient thirst for wisdom leads him to break the first commandment of his kind:  not to fall in love.  Together they are about to pay the ultimate price for their ambition...and their desire."  Nominated for both the Stoker and the International Horror Guild Awards.
• Carol Emshwiller, Mister Boots.  YA fantasy.  "Bobby Lassiter has some important secrets -- but it's not as if anyone's paying attention.  It's the middle of the depression, and while Bobby's mother and older sister knit all day to make money, Bobby explores the California desert around their home.  That's how Bobby finds Boots.  He's under their one half-dead tree, half-dead himself.  Right away he's a secret, too -- a secret to be fed and clothed and taken care of, and even more of a secret because of what he can do.  Sometimes Boots is a man.  Sometimes he's (really, truly) a horse.  He and Bobby both know something about magic."
• Loren D. Estleman, Infernal Angels.  An Amos Walker mystery.  "Motor City private investigator Amos Walker has long been reluctant to embrace technology.  But crime marches on, and twenty-first century Detroit has embraced the digital age.  Walker gets proof of that when a vintage merchandise dealer asks him to recover not classic items from the early twentieth century, but a bunch of HDTV converter boxes that the shopkeeper has been selling as a sideline.  Walker knows where to find people who fence hot merchandise.  But when he stumbles upon the dead body of a suspect, he starts to think that something other than converter boxes has been stolen."
• "William Grant", Faraday:  Collision Course.  Western.  "Indian raids, armed bandits, violent storms, these were nothing...At least not compared to a railroad man's worst nightmare:  Two trains.  One track.  A head-on collision.  the ungodly sound of ripping metal. The terrified screams of the dying.  And on the Colorado plains, it finally happened.  A terrible accident.  But when two more trains meet the same grim fate. 'accident' is not a satisfactory answer -- and Matthew Faraday, the tough, smart honcho of Faraday Security Service, is called in to uncover the saboteurs.  With the help of Nora Sutherland and Stuart Kennedy, two of his top operatives, and Jim Hart, a clever young newsman, he's closing in on the murderous truth."  The William Grant house name was a byline shared by five authors:  James Reasoner. Paul Block, Robert Vaughan, Bill Crider, and Chet Cunningham; there were seven books in the series but the last two were never published.  The author here is probably Paul Block.
• Simon R. Green, The Best Thing You Can Steal.  Urban fantasy, a Gideon Sable novel.  "Gideon Sable is a thief and a con man.  He specializes in stealing the kind of things that can't normally be stolen.  Like a ghost's clothes, or a photo from a country that never existed.  He even stole his current identity.  Who was he originally?  Now, that would be telling.  One thing's for sure though, he's not the bad guy.  The people he steals from always have it coming.  Gideon's planning a heist, to steal the only thing that matters from the worst man in the world.  To get past the security, he's going to need a crew who can do the impossible...but luckily, he has the right people in mind.  The Damned, the Ghost, the Wild Card...and his ex-girlfriend, Annie Anybody.  A woman who can be anyone, with the power to make technology fall in love with her.  If things go well they'll all get what they want.  And if they're lucky, they might not even die trying..."  Also, The Dark Side of the Road.  An Ishmael Jones mystery.  "Ishmael Jones is someone who can't afford to be noticed, someone who lives under the radar, who drives on the dark side of the road.  He's employed to search out secrets, investigate mysteries and shine a light in dark places.  sometimes he kills people.  Invited by his employer, the enigmatic Colonel, Ishmael arrives at the grand but isolated Belcourt Manor to find the Colonel has mysteriously disappeared.  As he questions his fellow guest, Ishmael concludes that at least one of them is harboring a dangerous secret, and that beneath the veneer of festive cheer lurk passion, jealousy, resentment and betrayal.  There also lurks a killer, Ishmael discovers, when he stumbles across a decapitated corpse in the manor grounds, the severed head placed neatly back on the body.  As a storm sets in, sealing off the Manor from the rest of the world, Ishmael must unmask a ruthless murderer before he -- or she -- strikes again."
• Parnell Hall. You Have the Right to Remain Puzzled.  A Cora Felton Puzzle Lady mystery.  "When Benny Southstreet, a small-time hustler with a big time gift for constructing crosswords, accuses Cora of stealing one of his creations, it's clearly a case of mistaken identity -- until Cora's own attorney files a plagiarism, suit against her.  to add to the enigma, when Benny is found dead, the police charge Cora with the murder!  At the heart of the matter is the not-so-little white lie Cora has been living for years:  assuming the grandmotherly public face of her publicity-shy niece Sherry, who designs crossword puzzles nd publishes them under Cora's name -- aka the Puzzle Lady.  It turns out that /sherry's and Benny's cruciverbalist paths recently crossed, resulting in the current incriminating conundrum.  As if Sherry's wedding engagement jitters and a nasty battle over missing antique chairs weren't enough to deal with, now Cora has to solve the ultimate mystery:  how to keep the secret of he identity without losing her life.  Because not only all evidence point to Cora, but someone seems to want her dead.  It looks like a riddle with no answer.   Luckily for Cora and Sherry, that's their favorite kind!"  I've been a big fan of Parnell Hall ever since C.H.U.D.
• Robert Hoskins, editor, The Liberated Future:  Voyages Into Tomorrow.  Science fiction anthology with 12 stories.  "The theme is, in essence, the liberation of the mind, and of the soul, from the bonds of the commonplace" -- a liberated future "where all problems are solvable."  Not sure if all the stories do that.  authors are Poul Anderson Dean R. Koontz, William Tenn, Barry N. Malzberg, Robert Sheckley, C. M. Kornbluth, Henry Kuttner, Anne McCaffrey, R. A. Lafferty, Joe L. Hensley, Katherine MacLean, and Ursula LeGuin.
• Geoffrey Household, The Courtesy of Death.  Thriller.   "When Yarrow stumbled on the secret caves in which the sect held the primitive ceremonies, he opened a Pandora's box of eerie suspense and sudden death!  The fanatic cult had a simple credo.  Killing was permissible -- even desirable -- as long as an apology was offered to the victim."  
• John Jakes, editor, A Century of Great Western Stories.  Collection of thirty western stories from 1905 (Jack London) to 1995 (Bill Pronzini).  Most of the usual suspect are here, many with fairly unfamiliar stories.  Included is Ed Gorman's 1993 novel Wolf Moon; whatever dimbulb had previously owned this book had scribbled next to it on the table of contents "did not like" -- so, the previous owner did not know a good thing when he saw it.  No accounting for taste.  **sigh**
• Stephen Jones, compiler and editor, Basil Copper:  A Life in Books.  Non-fiction.  As a big Basil Copper fan, I've been hoping to read this one for several years.  "To commemorate the 100th anniversary of Basil Copper's birth, PS Publishing is proud to reissue Basil Copper:  A Life in Books ion a new, revised and updated edition.  Back in 2008, following three years' extensive research and being given unprecedented and unrestricted access to the books and papers of renowned British macabre and crime writer Basil Copper, multiple award-winning editor and writer Stephen Jones produced Basil Copper:  A Life in Books, a unique and in-depth study of the author and his works that won the British Fantasy Award.  Following Basil's death in 2013, many more papers and manuscripts were discovered, and this newly-unearthed material has been incorporated into this comprehensive new edition.   Containing the most comprehensive Working Bibliography ever compiled of Basil Copper's productive output, rare and obscure articles covering everything from Arkham House creator August Derleth to a brief history of Count Dracula, numerous short story fragments and ideas, along with a complete television script based on M. R. James' classic horror story Count Magus."   Over 500 pages.  Profusely illustrated. 
• Stuart M. Kaminsky, The Big Silence.   An Abe Lieberman mystery.  "Abe Lieberman is an honest cop in a town not necessarily known for its honesty.  He is an everyman whose love for his frankly is only matched by his quiet, zealous commitment to justice.  A commitment that is sorely tested on the mean streets of Chicago.  A moral man, he is sometimes faced with ethical choices in order to see that justice -- but perhaps not the letter of the law -- is meted out.  The Big Silence takes Lieberman and his Irish partner Bill Hanrahan -- the Rabbi and the Priest, as they are known on the streets -- on a journey that will test their consciences to the limit.  When the young son of an informant in the government's witness protection program is kidnapped and a grisly death occurs, they will have to make some hard choices to set thing right.  And Lieberman may have to bend the rules to help his partner, whose time has come to face the demons that have been dogging his steps for too many years."
• Jonathan & Jesse Kellerman, The Golem of Paris.  Thriller, the second Jacob Lev novel from the father-son writing team.  "Detective Jacob lev has awakened dazed and confused.  It appears he picked up a woman the night before, but can't remember anything about it.  And then suddenly, she's gone.  Not long after, he's dispatched to a murder scene in a house in the Hollywood hills.  There is no body, only a head.  And seared into a kitchen counter is a message:  the Hebrew word for justice.  Lev is about to embark on an odyssey -- through Los Angeles, London, and Prague, through the labyrinthine mysteries of a grotesque ancient legend, and most of all, through himself.  All that he has believed to be true will be upended.  And not only his world, but the world itself, will be changed."
• Joe R. Lansdale, Things Get Ugly:  The Best Crime Stories of Joe R. Lansdale.  Collection of 19 crime stories.  "In the 1950s, a young small-town projectionist mixes it up with a violent gang.  When Mr. Bear is not alerting us to the dangers of forest fires, he lives a life of debauchery and murder.  A brother and sister travel to Oklahoma to recover the dead body of their uncle.  A lonely man engages in dubious acts while pining for his rubber duckie.  In this collection of nineteen unforgettable crime tales, Joe R. Lansdale brings his legendary mojo and gritty, dark humor to harrowing heists, revenge, homicide, and mayhem.  No matter how they begin, things are bound to get ugly -- and fast."
• Bentley Little, The Resort.  Horror novel.  "The Reata is an exclusive spa isolated in the Arizona desert -- a perfect getaway from the city for people like Lowell Thurman and his family, booked for a relaxing five-day retreat.  But what unfolds is anything but tranquil:  unnerving encounters with strange employees, wild parties in empty rooms, something unspeakable in the pool.  Then, one by one, guests begin disappearing.  The Thurmans are afraid because out in the middle of nowhere, they're left with only the terrifying choice:  unlock the dark secrets of the REtaa themselves before the real carnage begins."
• "E. C. R. Lorac" (Caroline Rivett}, Murder by Matchlight.  A Chief Inspector Robert Macdonald mystery.  "The setting:  a black, dripping November evening in wartime London.  Bruce Mallaig, a young analytical chemist sitting on a bench in Regent's Park, watches a stranger approach, then suddenly disappear under a footbridge.  Seconds later another figure appears on the same overpass, stops to smoke a cigarette, throws it away, then strikes a match which briefly illuminates a face beyond his own -- this one almost grotesque in appearance.  The light is extinguished and in the darkness comes sounds of a dull thud, a body falling and silence. [...] Macdonald 's assignment -- to find out who killed Timothy O'Farrel, a.k.a. 'the man on the bridge.'  With little to go on except a set of bicycle tracks that end halfway across the bridge's pathway, Macdonald begins by typically claiming that 'evidence without ideas is more valuable than ideas without evidence.'  Macdonald finds the character of the murder victim to be as intriguing as the mysterious manner in which he was dispatched.  Viewed by a few acquaintances as charming, witty and courageous, O'Farrel is considered by most who knew him as 'a man who could be relied on to be unreliable, and opportunist who let others foot the bill, a blackmailer who lived on other people's miseries...and finally, a man who became dangerous enough to be murdered.' "
• Jonathan Maberry, Broken Lands.  Zombie novel the first book in the eponymous series, and offshoot of the author's ROT & RUIN series and JOE LEDGER series.  "Sine her mother's recent death, Gabriella 'Gutsy' Gomez has been trying to fly under the radar.  But her mother's undead body is returned from the grave to her doorstep and Gutsy witnesses a pack of ravagers digging up los meurtos -- her mother's name for the undead.  Gutsy realizes that life finds you no matter how hard you try to hide from it.  Meanwhile, Benny Imura and his gang set out on a journey to finish what Captain Joe Ledger started:  They're going to find a cure.  After what they went through in the Rot and Ruin, they think they've seen it all, but as they venture into new and unexplored territory, they soon learn that the zombies they fought before were nothing compared to what they'll face in the wild beyond the peace and safety of their fortified town."
• Ellen MacGregor & Dora Pantell, Miss Pickerell Goes on a Dig.  Juvenile, the sixth book in the series.  "The amusing Miss Pickerell, complete with knitting bag and inevitable black umbrella, is off on another expedition.  This, time, she's involved in the mystery and adventure of an archeological dig.  Old friends, Mr. Humwhistel and Mr. Esticott are back with her -- so are her seven nieces and nephews, her beloved cow, and her cat, Pumpkins.  And stout Mr, Rugby formerly counterman of the Astral Cafeteria, and now the proprietor of the Square Toe County Diner, where moonburgers are the specialty of the house.  A series of finds unearthed on a hillside overlooking Square Toe River gives one exciting glimpse after another into the lives of past inhabitants of Square Toe County.  The diggers race against time, for lurking in the background is a bulldozer, ready to start leveling the historic layers which they are excavating."  I'm not embarrassed to say that I love the Miss Pickerell books.  This one however, is the last one of the series I have not read.  I look forward to reading it but I am saddened that there will be no more new adventures of Miss Pickerell for me.
• Henning Mankell, An Event in Autumn.  A Kurt Wallander mystery.  "after nearly thirty years at the same job, Inspector Kurt Wallander is tired, restless, and itching to make a change.  He is taken with a certain old farmhouse, perfectly situated in a quiet countryside with a charming, overgrown garden.  There he finds the skeletal hand of a corpse in a shallow grave.  Wallander's investigation takes him deep into the history of the house and the land, until finally the shocking truth about a long-buried secret is brought to light."  Translated by Laurie Thompson.
• Catrioan McPherson, The Day She Died.  Mystery.  "Jessie cnstable has learned the hard way to always keep herself safe.  But meeting Gus King changes everything.  Before she knows it, Jessie is sleeping at Gus's homuse, babysitting his kids, becoming a part of the family.  And yet, she can't ignore the unsettling questions.  Who does she keep seeing from the corner of her eye?  Why are strnge men threatening her?  Most importantly, what really happened to Gus's wife that day?"
• Brad Meltzer, et al., Identity Crisis.  DC Comics miniseries that throws in many of that line's most famous and not-so-famous characters:  Elongated Man, Ser Dibny, Firehawk, Green Arrow, Jean Loring, Atom, Batman, The Flash (both Wally West and Barry Allen), Zatanna, Black Canary, Superman, Nightwing, Starfire, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern (both Hal Jordan and Kyle Rayner), Vixen, Shining Knight, Firestorm, Calculator, Merlyn, Captain Boomerang, Owen, Phobia/Dr.Moon, Chronos, Felix Faust, and Mirror Master.
• David Morrell, Murder as a Fine Art.  Historical murder mystery.  "Thomas De Quincey, infamous for his memoir, Confessions of an English Opium Eater, is the major suspect in a series of ferocious mass murders identical to ones that terrorized London forty-three years earlier.  The blueprint for the killings seems to be De Quincey's essay 'On Murder Considered as One of the  Fine Arts.'  Desperate to clear his name but crippled by opium addiction, De Quincey is aided by his devoted daughter Emily and a pair of determined Scotland Yard detectives.  In Murder as a Fine Art, David Morrell plucks De Quincey, Victorian London, and the Ratcliff Highway murders from history.  Fogbound streets become a battleground between a literary star and a brilliant murderer whose lives are linked by secrets long buried but never forgotten."
• Grant Morrison, et al., Final Crisis.  Another DC Comics miniseries.  "From the dawn of time to the present day and into the far-flung future, the history of humankind has always been a story of struggle and conflict.  A never-ending battle of knowledge versus fear, hope versus hate, and good versus evil.  But now that eternal dual has entered a new stage:  man versus god.   Life versus Anti-Life.  And this battle will be the greatest of all.  Men of steel and women of wonder, dark knights and lantern lights, those who ride the lightning and those who call it down -- none of the can escape the shadow of the dark side -- as it reaches out to extinguish the human flame forever.  A hell without exit.  A death that is life.  An end to all stories.  A Final Crisis."
• Jo Nesbo, The Bat.  The first Inspector Harry Hole novel.  "Inspector Harry hole of the Oslo Crime Squad is dispatched to Sydney to observe a murder case.  Harry is free to offer assistance, but he has firm instructions to stay out of trouble.  the victim is a twenty-three-year-old Norwegian woman, a minor celebrity back home.  Never on to sit on the sidelines, Harry befriends one of the lead detectives, and one of the witnesses, as he is drawn deeper into the case.  Together, they discover that this is only the latest in a string of unsolved murders, and the pattern points toward a psychopath working his way across the country.  As they circle closer and closer to the killer, Harry begins to fear that no one is safe, least of those investigating the case."  Translated by Don Bartlett.
• Srewart O'Nan, Last Night at the Lobster.  General fiction doesn't really describe this novel.  "The Red Lobster perched in the far corner of a run-down New England mall hasn't been making its numbers and headquarters has pulled the plug.  But manager Danny DeLeon still needs to navigate a tricky last shift with a near mutinous staff.  All the while, he's wondering how to handle the waitress he's still in love with, what to do about his pregnant girl friend, and where to find the present that will make everything better.  Stewart O'Nan has been called 'the bard of the working class,' and Last Night at the Lobster is one of his most acclaimed works to date." (from Goodreads)
• Patton Oswald, Zombie  Spaceship  Wasteland.  A collection of miscellaneous pieces which combine "memoir with uproarious humor, from snow forts to Dungeons & Dragons to gifts from Grandma that had to be explained.  He remembers his teen summers working in a movie Cineplex and his early days doing stand-up.  Readers are also treated to several graphic elements, including a vampire tale for the rest of us and some greeting cards with a special touch.  Then there's the book's centerpiece, which posits that before all young creative minds have anything to write about, they will home in on three storylines:  zombies, spaceships, or wastelands." 
• Wayne D. Overholser, The Best Western Stories of Wayne D. Overholser.  Collection of 16 stories from 1947 to 1982, from 15 Western Tales. Blue Book, Zane Grey's Western Magazine, Western Story Magazine, Ranch Romances, and Argosy to Iron Men and Silver Stars and four Western Writers of America original anthologies.
• .Robert B. [not HIM] Parker, Passport to Peril.  Suspense.  "Decades before Robert Brown Parker began writing his books about Spenser, a man named Robert Bogardus Parker (1905-1955) penned this extraordinary novel of post-war intrigue.  From the corridors and compartments of the Orient Express to the shadowy, ruined streets of Budapest -- which he saw firsthand as a foreign correspondent during World War II -- Parker takes you an o nightmare tour of the land where life is cheap, old hatreds run strong, and a couple of Americans can find themselves in more danger than they ever imagined.   With all the immediacy of the wartime dispatches Parker filed from Turkey. Danzig, Warsaw, and Bucharest and all the authority of a man who himself spent three years crossing borders without a passport and narrowly avoiding arrest by the Gestapo, Passport to Peril points a heart-stopping picture of desperate men in a desperate time." 
• Iain Pears, three novels, including the fantasy  Arcadia.  "In 1960s Oxford, Professor Henry Lytten is arranging to write a fantasy novel that foregoes the magic of his predecessors J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis.  He finds an unlikely confidante in his quick-witted. impulsive young neighbor, Rosie.  One day, while chasing Lytten's cat. Rosie encounters a doorway in his cellar.  She steps through and finds herself in an idyllic, pastoral land where Storytellers are revered above all others.  Then she meets a young man who is about to embark on a quest of his own -- and may be the one chance Rosie has of returning home.  These breathtaking adventures ultimately intertwine with the story of an eccentric psycho-mathematician whose breakthrough discovery will affect all these different lives and worlds."  Also, The Immaculate Deception.  Mystery.  "For newlywed and Italian Art Theft Squad head Flavia de Stefano, the honeymoon is over when a painting, borrowed from the Louvre and en route to a celebratory exhibition, is stolen.  Desperate to avoid public embarrassment -- and to avoid paying a ransom -- the Italian prime minister leans hard on Flavia to get it back quickly and quietly.  Across town her husband, art historian Jonathan Argyll, begins an investigation of his own tracing the past of the small Renaissance painting  -- an Immaculate Conception -- owned by Flavia's mentor, General Taddeo Bottando.  Soon both husband and wife uncover astonishing and chilling secrets, and Flavia's investigation takes a sudden turn from the search for an art thief to the hunt for a murderer."  And The Titian Committee.  Another Flavia di Stefano and Jonathan Argyll mystery.  "A member of a famous research committee  has been found stabbed to death in a Venetian public garden, and Rome's Art Theft Squad sends Flavia to investigate.  But each time Flavia comes close to solving the case, another member of the embattled committee is murdered.   Now, with Jonathan's help, she must race against time -- and fate -- to find the killer."
• Mike Resnick, Tales of the Velvet Comet #1:  Eros Ascending and Tales of the Velvet Comet #3:  Eros Descending.  The first and third books of a science fiction quartet -- yes, I'm missing the second (Eros at Zenith) and the fourth (Eros at Nadir).   In the first volume, "The Velvet Comet, orbiting Deluros VIII, was the most exclusive, extravagant, and exotic pleasure-dome ever created, and Thomas Gold, the thundering leader of a fanatical religious sect, was denouncing it as the new Sodom and Gomorrah.  Then  he discovered the beautiful, innocent, elfin aliens who made their home and plied their trade aboard the Comet, and his crusade took a whole new turn.  Gold declared himself the savior of these poor 'enslaved' beings and began a holy crusade of liberation that would only end with the Comet's destruction or his..."  In the third volume, "Built in space, the barbell-shaped Velvet Comet is the most luxurious and lucrative pleasure palace ever created, and one of the hottest properties owned by the vast Vainmill Syndicate.  So when the Syndicate is rocked by an internal power struggle over who will become the next ruler of the organization, the Comet is chosen as the perfect weapon to eliminate some of the competition.  Enter master saboteur Harry Redwine, his secret assignment to bring financial ruin on the Comet.  But destroying the ship also means destroying the formidable lady who runs her -- the Leather Madonna.  And though Harry is expert at cracking computer systems and manipulating numerical figures, the Madonna and her lovely crew know far more than he does about manipulating men and women.  So it's no wonder that Harry's arrival on board sparks a no-holds-barred battle for ultimate control of the most desirable place in the universe -- the fabulous Velvet Comet!"
• R. M. Romaro, Death's Country.  YA fantasy take on "Orpheus and Eurydice" told in verse covering some 340 pages; an ARC.  "Andres Santos of Sao Paulo was all swinging fists and firecracker fury, a foot soldier in the war between his parents -- until he drowned in the Tiete River...and made a bargain with Death for a new life.  A year later, his parents have relocated the family to Miami, but their promises of a fresh start quickly dissolve in the summer heat.  Instead of fists, Andres now uses music to escape his parents' battles.  While wandering Miami Beach, he meets two girls: photographer Renee, a blaze of fire, and dancer Llora, a ray of sunshine.  The three become a polyamorous triad, happy, despite how no one understands their relationship.  But when a car accident leaves Llorna in a coma, Andres and Renee are shattered.  The Renee proposes a radical solution:  she and Andres must go into the underworld to retrieve their girlfriend's spirit and reunite it with her body -- before it's too late.  Their search takes them to the City of the Dead, where painters bleed color, songs grow flowers, and regretful souls will do anything to forget their lives on earth.  But finding Llora's spirit is only the first step in returning to the living world.  Because when Andres drowned, he left a part of himself in the underworld -- a part he's in no hurry to meet again.  But it is eager to reunite with him..."  This was a freebie thrown into my bag when I bought another book from a thrift store.  The author spends her summers helping to maintain Jewish cemeteries in Poland.
• Alvin Schwartz,A Twister of Twists/A Tangle of Tongues.  A collection of tongue twisters in various forms; i.e., "A tooter who tooted a flute/Tried to tutor two tooters to toot/Said the two to the tutor/Is it harder to toot or/to tutor two tooters to toot?"
• "John Sharpe," The Trailsman #56:  Guns of Hungry Horses.  Adult western.  "Caul the Masked Hangman had turned sadism into success as he became the most feared figure in the West.  Now this merchant of legal murder has been hired to  string up a drifter named Sam Tyler, and he was looking forward to his latest kill.  That was when Skye Fargo got into the act.  A beauty named Laurie Smith offered him her body to save Tyler, and the U.S. Army gave Skye a secret order to do it.  The Trailsman was definitely putting his life on the line to yank Tyler's head out of the noose.  The trouble was that Skye now had a treacherous killer on his hands, a too-hot-to-handle lady in his arms, a vile hangman on his trail, and a territory filled with bloodthirsty Indians to ride through.  It looked like a one-way trip to the grave."  The author behind the house name is most likely Jon Messmann this time.
• Robert Silverberg, Getting Even/Easy Money.  Omnibus of two erotic softcore novels from the1960s.  Getting Even was originally published as Lust Demon by "Don Elliott," 1966:  "Judy is an innocent 16-year-old when she is raped by her older brother -- a drunken vicious rape.  It leaves her emotionally scarred, bitter, and resentful, broken inside.  She turns to alcohol to deaden her pain, but that only leads to a second rape.  Judy begins to hate men.  As time goes on, she moves into a cabin on the California coast, and leads a solitary life.  But life continues to deal her some cruel blows, and eventually her hatred of men takes a new turn.  She begins to excise the pain by killing it.  And now Judy is on her third murder.  It gets a little easier each time."  Easy Money was originally published as Flesh Pawns by "Don Elliott," 1964:  "Charley doesn't expect more than a cheap meal when he stops at the roadhouse, so finding Janie is a real bonus.  She is exactly the king of girl he is looking for to run a blackmail scam down in Miami Beach.  Janie is 23 but looks like she could easily pass for a teenager, and Charley figures that the two of them can clean up running the under-age sex gambit on the lonely tourists.  Janie agrees.  The first guy they run the ruse on  is a middle-aged widower.  After seducing him, Janie changes into her teenage outfit, and Charlie threatens him with the cops for seducing his sister.  And so the cruel con begins."  Silverberg wrote a gazillion sex novels early in his career, virtually all them far better than one could expect from the genre.  As "Don Elliott," he published an amazing 133 novels between 1959 and 1967; this is in addition to erotic novels he published as Loren Beauchamp, David Challon, John Dexter, Dan Eliot, Marlene Longman, Ray McKenzie, Gordon Mitchell, Mark Ryan, Stan Vincent, and L. H. Walker.  At the same time, Silverberg was publishing many science fiction and non-fiction books, as well as hundreds of stories and articles for various magazines.
• Isaac Bashevis Singer, The Death of Methuselah and Other Stories.  Collection of twenty literary stories, many fantastical and many dealing with Jewish themes.  A leader in the Yiddish literary movement, Singer was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1978.
• "Jack Slade" (house name), Lassiter #16:  Ride into Hell.  Adult western.  "A New Mexico cattle baron named Whip Brazeen ordered $150,000 worth of diamonds for his new bride -- and Lassiter was hired to make delivery.  That meant he was a target for every sneaking backshooter between Chicago and Santa Fe.  The smell of money brought them like vultures flapping to a massacre, but that was fine with Lassiter because he's an expert killer who likes to keep in practice."  Not sure who wrote this one -- the house name has been used by Todhunter Ballard, Peter McCurtin, and Barry Cord, and perhaps others.  This series should not be confused with the Lassiter series published as by Loren Zane Grey,(the books are ghosted and not written by Zane Grey's son).
• Colin F, Taylor, Ph.D, consulting editor, Native american Myths and Legends.  Coffee table book with articles detailing the myths and legends from nine areas.  The book has a heavy and impressive bibliography.
• Brian Thomsen & Martin H. Greenberg, editors, Alternate Gettysburgs.  Alternate world anthology with eleven original stories, four articles, and Lincoln's Gettysburg Address.  Stories are by Harold Coyle, Doug Allyn, William H. Keith, Jr., James M. Reasoner, Brendon Dubois, Julie Foster, Robert J. Randisi, Jon DeFelice, Simon Hawke, Denise Little, and Kristine Kathryn Rusch.
• Thea von Harbou,Metropolis.  The classic science fiction novel which was the basis of the 1927 Fritz Lang film.  The book itself, written in 1925, was intentionally written as treatment; von Harbou and Lang (her husband) collaborated on the film script.  From Wikipedia:  "The story is set in a technologically advanced city, which is sustained by the existence of an exploited class of labourers who live underground, far away from the gleaming surface world.  Freder, the son and heir of Joh Fredersen, one of the city's founders, falls in love with Maria, a girl from the underground.  Their romance takes place against the growing threat of civil war between the labourers and the armies of the founders, and a question of whether a lasting peace can be found."
• Donald Wandrei, Dead Titans, Waken!   Lovecraftian horror novel, the original version of what would eventually be published as The Web of Easter Island.  Also included in the book is the previously unpublished novel Invisible Sun, a far more mainstream and more autobiographical novel.  Wandrei, with August Derleth,  was co-founder of Arkham House, the publishing company which brought H. P. Lovecraft to the world's attention.  He also did most of the editorial work on Lovecraft's Selected Letters for Arkham House, and was a noted writer of pulp fantasies, science fiction, and mystery stories, as well as a poet.
• Richard S. Wheeler, Flint's Truth.  The second of three novels about frontier journalist Sam Flint.  "Driving his wagonload of printing equipment into Oro Blanco, site of the richest gold strike in the New Mexico Territory, journeyman editor and printer Dam Flint decides his newest weekly newspaper will be the Oro Blanco Nugget.  but as he's learned before, an editor is only popular if he can keep a secret, and Oro Blanco seems to have more than its share.  He knows there's a big story in town -- he can practically smell the corruption in the air.  How long will it be before the mining bosses try to run him out of town?  The on thing Sam knows for sure is that nothing makes people madder than the plain, honest truth."  Also, The Richest Hill on Earth.   Western historical.  "Capitalism comes to the American West -- and the Copper Kings of Butte, Montana, wrestle each other and Montana' fledgling government for control of the 'richest hill on earth.'  When newsman john Fellowes Hall arrives in Butte, he sees a mess of smoky mine boilers and makeshift shafts.  It's ugly as sin, but it's the best place to get rich.  It's also a city full of stories.  as an employee of mining titan William Andrews Clark, Hall finds himself involved in the best story of them all:  the fight among the Copper Kings.  The Richest Hill on Earth tells the stories of Marcus Daly, an immigrant mine owner; his rival William Andres Clark, who has bought himself a U.S. Senate seat; and Augustus Heinze, who used lawyers and judges to try to steal the mines only to be crushed by the Rockefellers."  Wheeler, who was one of the greatest western and historical writers of our time, was the recipient of five Spur Awards and a Owen Wister Award for his writings.
• Kate Wilhelm, The Deepest Water.  Standalone mystery novel.  "When Jud Connors, a successful writer, is found murdered in his isolated cabin in the woods of Oregon, his daughter Abby's world starts to fall apart.  Who wanted her father dead and why?  More puzzling is how anyone could have gotten to the cabin undetected.  Was the murderer someone Jud knew?  As Abby embarks on her own investigation, she soon realizes that the clue to the murderer's identity is buried kn her father's latest novel, finished just weeks before his death.  But will she able to see through the fiction in time -- before the killer comes after her?" 
• Roger Zelazny, The Changing Land.  Fantasy, a novel about Dilvish the Damned.  "Dilvish, a minor sorcerer, was once sent to Hell by Jelerak, the possessor of Castle Timeless and master of the power emitted by Tualua, kin to the Elder Gods.  Now Jerelak is lost in the North, and Tualua is going mad, causing the land about the castle to shift dangerously and unpredictably.  His lieutenants are struggling to master Tualua's madness in order to capture the castle and Jerelak's position as master sorcerer.  Other wizards struggle to cross the land of flux to claim their chance at power.  And Dilvish returns from Hell astride the metal horse, Black, to exact revenge....there is the sorcerous version of the Big Bang, and there is the sidelong look at familiar bureaucracies.  There is Zelazny, whom you can trust for enchantment." -- from a review by Tom Easton (Analog, December 7, 1981)

Something to Think About:  Today is National If Pets Had Thumbs Day.

Happy Birthday to Us:  Florida is now 180 years old, having been admitted to the Union on this date in 1845.  Although I rail about our current politicians and political climate, Florida is still a great place to live, with magnificent people, beautiful scenery, lots to do, and a significant history,  And we have Florida Man!

Happy Birthday to Kitty:  This week also marks Kitty's 75th birthday, a tough time for me.  She passed away two and half years ago, and while I am forever grateful for the time I was able to spend with her and I cherish every day we had together, I ache not being able to celebrate another birthday with her.  Fifty-two years of marriage is not enough.  Not nearly enough.  I'm selfish and I'm greedy and she really should still be here by my side, dammit.

On her last birthday while she was living, we took her out for a full English tea to celebrate.  For the last two years we have continued the tradition in her honor, and will do so again this weekend.  Feel free to raise a cup of tea in her memory this weekend.  She'd like that.

More Birthdays, Pisces All:  Notable people (and perhaps some less notable) born on this day include:

          

John II of Portugal (1455-1495), also know  as "The Perfect Prince,"  was Portugal's kings ever so briefly (for four days -- long story) in 1477 and from 1481 until his death, he reestablished the power of the monarchy, reinvigorated the economy, and renewed Portuguese exploration of Africa and Asia, Max von Sydow played him in a 1985 television series;  Matthias Flacius (1520-1575), Croatian theologian and a Lutheran reformer who irked many of his fellow Lutherans (Melanchthon called him "a snake in our bosom," and felt that man was inherently evil due to original sin and can only be redeemed through the grace of God, as a scholar he was known for his editorial work on the Magedburg centuries, religion may not have been the only thing on his mind -- he had eighteen children; Edward Herbert, First Baron Herbert of Cherbury (1583-1648), English-Welsh philosopher and diplomat, known as the "Father of English Deism," he wrote several significant works, including De Veritate, De religione gentilum, and Expedition Buckinghami (a defense of the Duke of Buckingham, whose disastrous military campaign in 1627 cost some 5000 lives), as a diplomat, Herbert arranged the marriage between Charles, Prince of Wales, and Henrietta Maria; Gisbertus Voetius 1589-1676), Dutch Calvinist theologian, who argued strongly against Cartesian philosophy and urged it be suppressed; Edmund Waller (1606-1687), English poet and politician, best know for the poem "Song (Go Lovely Rose)" [https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45441/song-go-lovely-rose],once considered a major English poet, his reputation has faded considerably, to the point where one 18th century critic described him as a "fairweather Royalist, an expedient Republican and mercenary bridegroom"; Thomas Otway (1652-1685), English playwright, his two most famous plays -- The Orphan and Venice Preserved -- were performed regularly until the 19th century; Madeleine de Vercheres (1678-1747), who was credited with repelling a raid by Iroquois Indians on Fort Vercheres  in New France (modern Quebec) in 1692, pretty spunky for a fourteen-year-old girl;  William Godwin (1756-1836), English author of Things as They Are; or, The Adventures of Caleb Williams, many years ago I announced my intention to read the book and Bill Crider pitied me and wished me well, I still have not finished the book and Bill really knew his beans; William McReady (1793-1873) English stage actor and leading West End performer, he was responsible for returning the text of King Lear to Shakespeare's original text (for a century and a half, the play had followed the text of Nahum Tate's The History of King Lear, which had a happy ending), he toured the United State several times but one his last tour (in 1849) took place the same time as the Astor Place Riot, which killed between 21 and 32 persons, because McReady and another actor were both performing concurrent versions of Macbeth at the time, the play's ominous reputation was significantly increased; 

Heinrich Georg Bronn (1800-1862), German geologist who was the first to translate Darwin's On the Origin of Species into German -- although not without his own interpretations and a critique of Darwin's work; Thomas Field Gibson, (1893-1889), English manufacturer and philanthropist, who introduced novel initiatives to improve British manufacturing and to improve the lives of the working class during the Industrial Revolution; William James Blacklock (1816-1858), English Landscape painter, specializing in the scenery of the Lakes Region and the Scottish borders, described as an artist with "a feeling for nature and a correctness of taste," Blacklock began to lose his eyesight in his mid-thirties and was completely blind in one eye by the time he was thirty-eight; physical and mental deterioration followed and he died of syphilis in an asylum at age 42;  Shiranui Koemon (his ring name, he was born Hirano Minematsu, 1825-1879), Japanes Sumo wrestler, the 11th yokozuma (the highest rank) in the sport, as of last month only 74 wrestlers have achieved that rank since it originated in 1789. known more for hois technique than his strength, Shiranui was an expert at leg grabs; George Pullman (1931-1897), American industrialist who designed the Pullman sleeping car, his company only hired black men to staff the cars as Pullman porters, he founded his company town, Pullman, on the south side of Chicago in the 1880s, during the depression of 1893, Pullman cut the wages of his workers by 30%, reduced workers and increased working hours but did not lower the rents in Pullman, leading to a strike organized by Eugene Victor Debs of the American Railway Union in which 34 people were killed, mostly by federal troops sent in to protect the mail; John Murray (1841-1914), Canadian-born British oceanographer, considered the father of modern oceanography, he assisted in the Challenger Expedition of 1873-76 (which traveled nearly 70,000 nautical miles, made depth readings,  and discovered over 4000 species), supervised the bathymetrical survey of the 5562 fresh-water lochs of Scotland, and made the 1910 North Atlantic Oceanographic Expedition, discovering the existence of the mid-Atlantic Ridge, oceanic trenches, and the presence of Saharan deposits in deep ocean sediments; Georg Cantor (1845-1918), German mathematician who helped create set theory, Cantor proved that real numbers are more numerous than natural numbers (implying the existence of an infinity of infinities) and defined the cardinal and ordinal numbers and their arithmetic, his theory of transfinite numbers was deemed counter-intuitive and met with resistance from his contemporaries, a feeling perhaps amplified by Cantor's bipolar behavior, much of the criticism was tempered by later accolades; Alexander Grtaham Bell (1847-1922). "Mister Watson, come here -- I want to see you"; John Montgomery Ward (1860-1925), Major League Baseball pitcher, shortstop, second baseman, third baseman, manager (Providence Grays, New York Gothams, Brooklyn Ward's Wonders, Brooklyn Grooms, New York Giants),  executive and owner (the Boston Braves), and author, Ward's professional career included 2,014 hits, 540 stolen bases, a batting average of .275, the only man in history to win over 100 games and to make over 2000 hits, he retired from baseball at age 34; Fred A. Busse (1866-1914), the 39th mayor of Chicago (1907-1911), his tenure was noted for corruption and the prevalence of organized crime in the city, one whorehouse owner actually used Busse's picture to promote her business, a political ally of organized crime figures, Busse was forced by public pressure to appoint a vice commission (although the commission did not issue a report until after Busse was out of office, having lost re-election); Alain ( writing name of Emile-Auguste Chartier (1868-1951), French journalist, philosopher, and pacifist, he taught reflection and rational thought, while avoiding prejudices, "a humanist Cartesian, he is an 'awakener of the mind', passionate for liberty"; Henry Wood (1869-1944), English , for nearly fifty years he led London's annual series of promenade concerts (the Proms), which brought hundreds of new works to British audiences; Florence Auer (1880-1962), American stage. screen, and television actress, IMDb lists credits from 1908 through 1956. many of them uncredited roles, she also wrote three screenplays for silent films (1916-1921); Elizabeth Abegg (1882-1974), German resistance fighter against Nazism, she sheltered about 80 Jews during the Holocaust and was recognized as "Righteous Above the Nations", she sold her jewelry to pay from some Jews to escape to Switzerland, and she tutored Jewish children hiding in her apartment, she was one of those people who put the human in humanity; Charles Ponzi (1882-1949), Italian charlatan and con artist whose name is forever enshrined in our language, his scheme ran for over a year before it collapsed, costing is investors some $20 million (about $340 million in 2024 dollars); Paul Maurais de Beauchamp (1883-1997), French zoologist who studied rotifers and Turbellarians (types of flatworms), a genus of freshwater planarians and a genus of land planarians have been named after him; Beatrice Wood (1893-1998), American illustrator and potter, often called the "Mama of Dada", she inspired the character of Rose in James Cameron's Titanic; Ragnar Frisch (1895 to 1973), Nobel Prizewinner in Economics in 1969; he coined the words econometrics, microeconomics, and macroeconomics, he was the first to develop a statistically informed model of business cycles, his Wikipedia photo looks significantly creepy; Matthew Ridgeway (1895-1993), American general, the Supreme Allied commander Europe (1953-54) and one of the military leaders overseeing the Battle of the Bulge, Operation Varsity, and the Western Allied invasion of Germany, he help resurrect UN involvement in the Korean War (many feel he was responsible for turning that war to the UN side), his advice to Eisenhower not to direct military invasion in the First Indo-China War helped keep America out of Vietnam for ten years; 

Edna Best (1900-1974), British actress, she appeared in The Man Who Knew Too Much, Intermezzo, Swiss Family Robinson, and The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, among others; Ruby Dandridge (1900-1987), African-American actress, known for her radio roles on Amos 'n' Andy, The Judy Canova Show, and (on both radio and television) The Beulah Show, she also played Raindrop on Gene Autry's Melody Ranch, one of her minor roles was as a native dancer in King Kong, she was the mother of Dorothy Dandridge; Jean Harlow (1911-1937), legendary Platinum Blonde actress, still revered as a screen idol, among her films were Hell's Angels, Platinum Blonde, Red Dust, Dinner at Eight, Wife vs. Secretary, Suzy, and Saratoga, she had a tragic life, was involved in a number of controversies, and died much too soon of kidney failure at age 26; Harold Stone (1913-2005), American stage. film, and television actor. although he had some memorable stage and television roles, he was probably best known as a television character actor, making more than 150 guest appearances in the 50s through the 80s and had co-starring or regular roles in The Hartmans, The Goldbergs,The Walter Winchell File, Grand Jury,Target:  The Corruptors,My World and Welcome To It,Bridget Loves Bernie,and Joe and Sons; Sameera Moussa (1917-1952), the first female Egyptian nuclear physicist, her work led to affordable medical treatments and the peaceful use of atomic energy; Arthur Kornberg (1918-2007), American biochemist and Noble Laureate in Medicine for discovering "the mechanisms of the biological synthesis of ribonucleic acid and deoxyribonucleic acid", Julius Boros (1920-1994), American golfer with an effortless swing, he had a total of 25 professional wins, including 18 on the PGA Tour, winning the US Open twice and the PGA Championship once; James Doohan (1920-2005), Canadian actor, as "Scottie" he would beam Kirk up;, some of his ashes are hidden under the floor cladding of the  International Space Station's Columbus module; Ronald Seale (1920-2011), British illustrator and cartoonist, known for creating comic strip series St. Trinian's School, you may also remember the opening, intermission, and closing credits for the 1965 film Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines, his artwork gives me joy; Dianna Barrymore (1921-1960), American actress, daughter of John, niece of Lionel and Ethel, aunt of Drew, alcohol and drug problems and a severe depression hindered her career, she reportedly died of a drug overdose but an autopsy could not establish the cause of death and found no indication of an overdose, some lives are sadder than others; Doc Watson (born Arthel Lane Watson, 1923-2012), country bluegrass singer-songwriter and musician, he was blind from an early age, an accomplished guitarist ar both flat -picking and finger picking, Doc made it all seem so easy, I could listen to his music for hours (and have);  James Merrill (1926-1995), American poet, winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 1977 for Divine Comedies; Lee Radziwell (1933-2019), American socialite, sister of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, she dabbled in acting, interior design, and public relations, but mostly she dressed well; Jimmy Garrison (1934 -1976), American jazz double bassist who played with John Coltrane from 1961 to 1967; Larry Burkett (1939-2003), American radio host who concentrated in financial advising from a Christian perspective, his three radio programs were carried on over 1100 stations worldwide, he published over 70 books with sales now exceeding 11 million, he served as chairman of the board of directors of Crown Financial Ministries until his death; Perry Ellis (1940-1986), American fashion designer who broke away from traditional men's stylings, a spokesman for Ellis's company would not confirm that the designer died of an AIDS-related illness, as per Ellis's wishes, his cause of death is listed as encephalitis; Mike Pender (b. 1941), British musician, founding member of the Merseybeat band the Searchers ("Needles and Pins", "Love Potion Number Nine"); George Miller (b. 1945), Australian filmmaker who created the Mad Max franchise, he produced and co-wrote the film Babe and directed Babe:  A Pig in the City, other films include The Witches of Eastwick, Lorenzo's Oil, and Happy Feet; Hattie Winston (b. 1945), Amercan actress who played Margaret Wyborn in Becker and Lucy Carmichael in Rugrats, and was a cast member on The Electric Company; Jennifer Warnes (b. 1947), American singer-songwriter, among her many notable songs were "Easy To Be Hard, "Up Where We Belong" (with joe Cocker), "{I've Had} The Time of My Life" (with Bill Medley), she was a close friends with Leonard Cohen and performed and recorded with him; Snowy White (b. 1948), British guitarist who played with Tin Lizzy and Pink Floyd; Steve Wilhite (1948-2022), American computer scientist who developed the GIF image format at Compuserve in 1987; Ronald Chernow (b. 1949), American biographer, author of Washington:  A Life, The House of Morgan, Alexander Hamilton  (which inspired the musical, for which he was a consultant), Titan:  The Life of John D. Rockefeller, and Ulysses S. Grant; Bonnie J. Dunbar (b. 1949), now retired American astronaut who flew on five Space Shuttle missions, including two docking on the Mir space station, another science fiction geek who made good, she faced a lot of opposition in school, including a guidance counselor who advised that she marry a farmer and have children because she grew up on a farm (Dunbar ignored her and turned to her physics teacher or career advice instead) [ASIDE:  How many potentially brilliant careers have been sidetracked by ill-qualified guidance counselors?]; 

Tim Kazurinsky (b. 1950), American actor and comedian who was a writer and cast member for Saturday Night Live and played Carl Sweetchuck in the Police Academy movies, Zico (Arthur Atunes  Coimbra, b. 1953), Brazilian football coach and former player, arguably the best footballer of the late 70s and early 80s, known as the "white Pele," he is considered on the greatest footballers of all time; Robert Gossett (b, 1954), American actor who played Commander Russell Tylor on the television series The Closer and on Major Crimes, ha has also played Marshall Ashford on General Hospital since 2021; Darnell Williams (b. 1955), he won two Daytime Emmy Awards for playing Jesse Hubbard on All My Children (1981-1988, 2008-2011), he also had roles on Guiding Light, As the World Turns, Loving, The City, and Felicity; Miranda Richardson (b. 1958), English actress known for Enchanted April, The Crying Game, Damage, Tom & Viv, Sleepy Hollow, and The Hours; Ira Glass (b. 1959), public radio host of This American Life, a show I try to catch every week; John Matteson (b. 1961), , winner of a 2008 Pulitzer Prize for his first book, Eden's Outcast:  The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father, Fatima Whitbread (b. 1961), English javelin thrower, the first British athlete to set a record in a throwing event (254 feet,  3/4 inch -- 1986), a two-time Olympic medalist, taking bronze in 84 and silver in 88, she was abandoned as a baby and left to die, spent 14 years living in institutions, and was occasionally left in the care of her abusive biological mother -- "It was a nightmare of a childhood" but she survived because she loved sport and eventually met her "true" (adoptive) mother;                      Jackie Joyner-Kersee (b. 1962), winner of three gold, one silver, and two bronze medals in four Olympics and a four-time gold medalist at the world championships, a philanthropist in children's education, racial equality, and women's rights, she suffered from severe asthma throughout her athletic career; Herschel Walker (b. 1962), former football running back, Heisman trophy and Maxwell Award winner in 19882, he played for fifteen years in the USFL and the NAHl, he had a disastrous run for Senate in 2022, and was named  a presumptive nominee to be Ambassador to the Bahamas by Donald Trump, Walker's qualifications for any political office appear to be specious; Khaltmaagiin Battulga (b. 1963), the fifth president of Mongolia (2017-2021) and a former sambo wrestler who won won gold at the 1983 world championships and the 1989 world cup, along with several other medals at the World Championships, World Cup, and Friendship Games, he tried to reinstate the death penalty for sexual offenders, opposed a law that gave the National Security council the power to dismiss judges, prosecutors, and the head of the national anti-corruption service, while also moving to dismiss a rival political party, Battulga is generally seen as pro-Russian politician and Russophile with ties to Putin; Laura Herring (nee Herring-Martinez, formerly Grafin van Bismark-Schonhausen, b. 1964) Mexican-american actress and Miss USA 1985, she played the lead role of Rita in Mulholland Drive (1985), she had recurring toles in General Hospital and The Shield and was a series regular in Sunset Beach; Tone Loc (Anthony Terrell Smith, b, 1966), American rapper and actor, I can't comment on his music because I am Tone-deaf, his acting career primarily involved voice-overs, he has had some legal issues, was ordered to take anger management training, and has collapsed ln stage a number of times since 1995; Brain Cox (b. 1968), a super-smart guy and professor of particle physics and former keyboard player for the rock band Dare; Julie Bowen (b. 1970), actress who played Claire Dunphy non Modern Family, she also appeared in ER, Ed, Boston Legal, and Lost, she has appeared in Happy Gilmore, Multiplicity, and An American Werewolf in Paris, she suffers from bradycardia and has worn a pacemakers since her twenties; Tyler Florence (b. 1971), celebrity chef and host of various Food Network shows, including Food 911, How to Boil Water, Tyler's Ultimate, The Great Food Truck Race, and Bite Club, he was a judge on Worst Cooks in America; David Faustino (b. 1974), Bud Bundy on Married...with Children; Ronan Keating (b. 1977) former member of the Irish pop group Boyzone, as a solo singer, he sold 20 million records worldwide (along with the 25 million sold by Boyzone); Buddy Valastro (b. 1977), host of TLS's Cake Boss, which spawned four spin-offs, in 2019 he launched "cake ATMS" -- slices of cake sold through high-tech refrigerated vending machines; Lil' Flip (Wesley Eric Weston, Jr., b. 1981), he began as a freestyle and battle rapper and gained recognition with "Game Over" and "Sunshine", his second album Undaground Legend went platinum in less than four months; Jessica Biel (b. 1982) received recognition for her role in 7th Heaven (1996-2006), she won the Young Artist's Award for her role in Ulee's Gold (1997) and has since starred in a number of popular and profitable films, she is married to Justin Timberlake and is apparently an anti-vaxxer; Ivar (Todd James smith, b. 1984). professional wrestler, he and tag team partner Erik (Raymond Rowe) as The War Raiders are the current World Tag Team Champions in their second reign and one-time NXT Tag Team Champions; Toby Turner (b. 1985), American internet personality whose three YouTube Channels have 14,5 million subscribers and over 3,919 views, he has been accused by a number of ex-girlfriends of rape, drug use, and cheating; other ex-girlfriends acknowledged the cheating but could not verify the other charges, a former collaborator said that turner has a drug problem, is non-monogamous and needs mental help, I don't understand the popularity of YouTube influencers; Anri Sagaguchi (b. 1991), Japanese variety actress, she joined the entertainmant industry in 2008 and had her first starring role in Honey Flappers (2014), in 2016 she voluntarily left Avilla (a Japanese media and entertainment group), six months later she released her first adult video, more followed, she began stripping in 2018 after releasing her last adult video,  and worked as a hostess, she married in 2022 but the marriage lasted only two months; Josef Dostal (b. 1993) is a Czech sprint canoeist, he won a bronze in the 2012 Olympics and a silver in the 2016 Olympics, he was part of a relay team which took the bronze in the 2016 games. he was also the flag-bearer for the Czech Republic during the 2016 closing ceremonies, Dostal won a gold medal in the 2024 Olympics and was named Czech Sportsperson of the Year 2024; Umika Kawashima (b. 1994), Japanese actress and singer, she was a member of the girl group 9nine, and she has acted in numerous Japanese television shows and movies, she dubbed the voice of character Mavis Dracula in the Japanese versions of the Hotel Transylvania film franchise; Camila Cabello (b, 1997), Cuban-American singer-songwriter, one-time member of the pop girl group Fifth Harmony, her first solo album went platinum, her second peaked at #3 on the Billboard 200,and her third album peaked at number 3 on the Billboard 200her fourth studio album , released last year, combined hyperpop, hip-hop, and experiment pop, her song "Havana" was the best-selling digital single of 2018, in 2022 she was a coach on The Voice, replacing Kelly Clarkson; Cabello suffers from anxiety and OCD and has publicly advocated for the importance of mental health and well-being; and Jvke (Jacob Dodge Lawson, b. 2001), American singer-songwriter and social media personality whose TikTok videos during the Covid-19 lockdown brought him fame, he was named the MTV Push Artist for October 2022.

Today's Poem:

March

The Sun at noon to higher air,

Unharnessing the silver Pair

That late before his chariot swam,

Rides on the gold wool of the Ram.

So braver notes the storm-cock sings

To start the rusted wheel of things,

And brutes in field and brutes in pen

Leap that the world goes round again.

The boys are up in the woods at day

To fetch the daffodils away,

And home at noonday from the hills

They bring no dearth of daffodils.

Afield for palms the girls repair

And sure enough the palms are there,

And each will find by hedge or pond

Her waving silver tufted want.

In farm and field through all the shire

They eye beholds the heart's desire;

Ah. let not only mine be vain,

For lovers should be loved again.

-- A. E. Housman