Books Read April/May 2026 and Annual Summary

Because of travel I have combined the last two months.  We were away for the last week of April and the first week of May.  As a result I only read one Tubb and one Bulmer instead of one each month.  I also managed to get through a lengthy Moorcock novel.  The rest is free reading, including four from my Delphi Classics series on Kindle.

 

But the end of May is also the time I look back on another year of reading. It is now ten years since I began the Avon/Equinox SF project (see separate blog).  I am now down to mostly two authors, E C Tubb and Kenneth Bulmer.  I am stepping back even from these two authors somewhat, and will read one book a month by one or the other, instead of both in the same month.  This frees up my time for the Delphi Classics series, as well as for my ever growing list of unrelated fiction.

 

Here is the summary for June to December 2025 January through May 2026.  In total I read 98 books.  22 of those were by authors from the Avon/Equinox SF series, while 71 one of them were novels by various and sundry authors, many from the Delphi Classics series.  My ten year total for Avon/Equinox authors is now at an astounding 898 books!  In the same period I have read 361 books by other authors.   That makes 1259 books over ten years, all reviewed.  I'm a busy guy when not looking at maps.

 

Scorpio Invasion is from 1992 and is 238 pages long.  It is #40 in the Dray Prescott series by Kenneth Bulmer, and we find Dray face to face with the Star Lords once again, after defying them in the previous book.  All is well, however, and he even manages to talk them into following his advice for his next step in serving them.  The Shanks ("Fishheads") are a savage and evil bunch attempting to take over the entire planet and enslave everyone.  Dray has fought them before, but this time he volunteers to go into a city that they have captured and are terrorizing.  He enlists the help of some renegades and like-minded slaves in hopes of timing his attack from within the city with the upcoming one from without.  Bulmer's attention to detail is an awesome feat; I don't know how he kept track of events from earlier books, but he even footnotes where readers can go back and check if they so wish.  Also, his sense of humour seldom lets up, leaving behind all of the much more serious fantasy adventure novels in this aspect.  The novel ends at a cliffhanger moment, so we will have to wait awhile to find out what happens next.  Will Dray Prescott be able to save his friends from slavery, or will he be captured and enslaved himself?  This fun and fascinating series continues to interest me, even forty books on.  *** stars.

 

Incident on Ath is from 1978 and is 188 pages long, #18 in the on-going saga of Earl Dumarest written by E C Tubb.  Any book in this series would make a fantastic SF movie, though the same could be said for virtually any book by Tubb.  But Star Wars marches on.  This time we begin on planet Juba, a place that Dumarest is trying to now leave.  He is being searched for the Cyclan, that race of Cybers--part human, mostly machine) for knowledge he has tucked away in his brain.  This knowledge will advance their cause greatly in their scheme to rule the galaxy, so our hero is always on the run.  Where is he going?  This is the one weak link in this series.  He wants to return to earth, where he was born, but no one has heard of it and thinks it's a myth.  His reasons for returning are never given--when he left as a boy it was a world devastated by war and environmental disasters.  So why not go back and see the old homestead.  Anyway, he hears of the planet Ath, which sounds like the planet he is looking for.  As things turn out, Ath likely had all the answers he needed, but, like the old TV series The Fugitive, Tubb can never give him what he wants.  The computer with the knowledge gets blown up in a man's failed scheme to take over the planet, which has something very much like Herbert's spice.  And so we move on to the next volume.  Tubb weaves an amazing story around these events, with a lot of science mixed in for good measure.  He even includes the arts, with a disillusioned painter and a very beautiful and talented ballerina.  This is one of the better entries in the series.  *** stars.

 

The Whispering Swarm is from 2014, the first book of The Sanctuary of the White Friars series by Michael Moorcock.  The book is 470 pages and is divided into 3 shorter books.  I read one of the shorter books each past month, the first one 190 pages long.  90% of this first book is Moorcock's autobiography, and he throws in a little bit of mysterious goings on in London for seasoning.  I wish he had just stuck to autobiography or to fiction; the two do not mesh very well.  In fact, Moorcock comes out looking like a total idiot, one of the stupidest heroes of any book I have ever read.  Even though he continually wanders into a fantasy London area, he attributes it to LSD.  Really?  Is anybody that dumb?  While he goes on and on about how great his imagination is, the best he can come up with for explaining the strange goings on behind the big gate he sometimes has access to is to say it was LSD.  Very good, Michael.  Very believable.  He becomes one of those characters you want to shake very badly, or see him get run over by a bus.  The fantasy part shows promise, whenever he decides to get more serious about it.  The autobiography is interesting since Moorcock has met so many influential writers.  Right now I have very mixed feelings about the book, as it took 190 pages to convince himself that something strange is actually happening to him.  Great deduction.  More to follow next month.

Reviewed February 2nd/26 

 

The 2nd book of The Whispering Swarm continues pretty much in the same tradition as the first, except that Michael now is beginning to believe something strange is going on.  Ya think?  Was there ever such as moron in fiction who lived to tell the tale?  Michael divides his time between telling us more of his autobiography, how much his loves his wife and daughters, how much he loves the girl from behind the gates he's shagging, and how his tinnitus stops when he goes there.  Yet he still makes no real connection.  In most horror novels such a dimwitted hero would likely die and no one would miss him.  I am coming around to wishinf for that idea in this case.

Reviewed March 1st/26 

 

In the 3rd book of The Whispering Swarm Moorcock continues to use the kitchen sink approach to writing.  He uses autobiography a lot (changed somewhat, of course), fantasy, SF and, in this book, increases the use of historical fiction.  British history is filled with opportunities to write fictional accounts of what might have happened, and is a major genre of fiction writing today.  Moorcock taps into this with his Cromwell versus King Charles I.  He joins a party of loyalists who attempt to rescue the King from prison the night before he is to be executed.  Moorcock and readers know that Charles was beheaded, but with Moorcock and his use of multi universes one never knows where this angle might be going.  Be reassured that history does follow its course, but the reason that the rescue does not come off is that Charles refuses to be rescued.  There follows a climactic scene on the frozen Thames at night during a winter thunder snowstorm.  While the third book in this volume is the best of the three, it still can't really save a sinking ship.  Planned as a series of four volumes, at least one more has been written.  I may or may not get around to it.  If I can pick up the next volume cheaply I will, but that is still no guarantee it will get read and reviewed.  I wish Moorcock had simply written an autobiography.  For now, Moorcock reading and reviews will be rested for a time.

** 1/2 stars

 

My used hardcover edition was read over a period of three months. 

 

Turning now to Delphi Classics I began with another round of stories featuring martin Hewitt, private detective. Just as smart as Holmes, and much more personable, Hewitt and his sidekick Brett tackle a mastermind criminal this time.  Arthur Morrison's The Red Triangle is a series of six stories from 1903.  Mastermind Maes is behind all of the crimes investigated, and though the stories can be read as separate tales, there are ingeniously woven together to form a novel.  Similar to Moriarty and Holmes, Maes is thwarted in all of his misdeeds by Hewitt, and though they do have a final encounter in the sixth and final story, it ends very differently in this telling for the detective.  All of the stories are well written and worth reading, and the linking device used to make us keep reading is a good one.  All of Morrison's Martin Hewitt tales are recommended highly to fans of Sherlock Holmes, and they can stand up against most of Doyle's tales.  *** 1/2 stars.

 

An early edition. 

 

Next came another book by E. Nesbit concerning the Bastable Children.  The New Treasure Seekers is from 1904 and contains several shorter stories loosely linked.  In the first story one of the boys tries to stowaway to Rome, hiding in a clothing basket dressed in a clown suit.  It becomes a true childhood misadventure.  In the next story the children try to concoct a superior Christmas pudding.  This story is pretty funny and more than plausible.  Don't forget to wash the raisins and currents before using them.

The third story is about a distant cousin who visits and is slightly older than the Bastable children. Archibald is also a cad of the first order, but proves no match for his more sensible and decent younger cousins (and their female servant).  In "Over The Water To China" the children get into a situation when they go searching for their lost dog.  It takes them across the Thames from Greenwich and into a very poor area as they follow a lead on their missing dog.  Three of them, led by Alice, end up in a street fight with five thuggish and unpleasant boys tormenting an elderly Chinese man.  After a day long adventure it turns out that the dog wasn't missing after all.

In "The Young Antiquaries" they venture to Red House to meet again with the famous writer who lives there, and this time meet Mrs. Red House, who turns into a very good sport and super fine person.  In the next story their Red House adventure continues, leading to an undiscovered extra room in the cellar and the treasures found there in. 

The next story is one of revenge, but the result is far from sweet.  In the next story the children try to do their writer uncle, who is in Rome, a favour by convincing his London editor that the chapter returned for a rewrite is worth printing as it is.  Good intentions always seem to go off the rails with these children, and this episode is no different.

The final three stories take place at the seaside, after the children are sent there to recuperate following a measles outbreak.  Along with Mr and Mrs Redhouse, a new adult friend is made, the sister of the woman they are lodging with.  It ends by the narrator (Oswald, of course) informing us that there will be no further Bastable stories.  And he was correct.

*** stars. 

 

P D Wodehouse wrote a number of books about upper grade public school boys, usually involving cricket as a central theme.  The Head of Kay's is from 1905 and follows the day to day adventures of several boys at boarding school.  The funny thing about these books, and probably why they were popular with boys at the time, is that there is no mention of actual school work or in-class scenes.  The story revolves around life before and after classes and on weekends.  Girls play no part in the stories, either.  Sport, mischief and getting along with others is a recurring theme, though Wodehouse is such a fine storyteller that a reader can sail through the book effortlessly and not be minded about themes or ideals very much.  Kay's is one of the school houses, identified by the teacher put in charge of it, and old Kay himself is a character to be reckoned with.  His house has a bad reputation and so he pilfers a senior from a different house to try and bring some order to his realm.  *** stars.

 

I brought two books to London with me, one to read at the hotel at night and the second to read on the long plane ride home.  Roddy Doyle's The Deportees and Other Stories was published in paperback in 2007 and contains 8 stories.  All of the stories are concerned with the immigrant experience in Ireland, and while each story has something important to say on the topic, a few say it better than anything I have ever come across.  "Guess Who Is Coming To Dinner" is about a black man coming to dine in a typical working class Irish household, and the father's reaction to the event.  The story is priceless and very well told.  The title story is a sort of followup to the author's best known novel, The Commitments.  This time the band is built using only immigrant talent.  The story is very funny and worth reading just as a lark, never mind the deeper meaning it may have.  It is worth the price of the book.  "New Boy" is a terrific tale of a young black schoolboy enduring his first day in a new school in a new country.  A virtuoso telling of a traumatic experience.  "57% Iris is a funny story about what it means to be Irish, and how such a concept can be broken into a mathematical statement of fact.  Funny and very original.  "The Pram" is a first rate horror tale about a haunted pram and the Polish woman who must push it every day with the baby she looks after for an Irish family.  This is one of the grimmest tales of immigrant experience I have ever read.  All in all this is a rich collection containing several unforgettable tales.  Highly recommended.

***1/2 stars.

 

A terrific story collection! 

 

Outside Looking In is a truly remarkable story by T. C. Boyle from 2019.  It is a fictional look at the history of LSD and its use among early researchers.  The story begins in a Swiss lab during WW II, then jumps to the early 1960s at Harvard.  This is a not very thinly disguised history of Timothy Leary's LSD experiments.  The story centers around Fritz, a grad student studying Psychology, and his wife Joanie and their young son Corey.  Fritz comes under the influence of the very charismatic Tim(othy) and he and his wife begin using LSD for research purposes.  Timothy Leary remains one of the most fascinating characters of the 20th C, polarizing people's views as to his research methods and his use of drugs to gain enlightenment.  While the novel focuses on the early years of experimentation, including several seasons at Millbank and the Mexico summers, the book really dives deep into the milieu of early 60s drug experimentation, with Boyle's focus on one family as a way to show outsiders what was really going on.  Fitz's inability to free himself from the group experience (his wife eventually pulls out with their son), and the fact that his life is going absolutely nowhere, is the tragic outcome of a science experiment that ditched the science and went with the drug experience instead.  Fritz essentially fell into a black hole and was unable to extricate himself.  The final words of the novel are shocking, though we knew all along what was happening and what wasn't.  The search for Truth evaporated into an alcoholic and drug induced haze of existence; it became a never ending party, fundraising event and nothing more.  This is a story that I didn't want to end, but the ending was perfect, as we watch the (sinking) ship sail on.  And on.  **** stars.

 

Timothy Leary and friends get exposed. 

 

A good read to follow up with was Paddy Chayefsky's 1978 novel Altered States.  I have seen the film many times and have always wanted to read the novel.  The author did a lot of research before he began writing it, but he still takes us where no man has ever gone before.  This is a fascinating SF novel about one man's search for Truth, and finding it.  There is a good deal of science talk and the main characters are all doctors of some sort, including medical.  This should not turn off a general reader as the story is as fascinating as it gets.  In the previous novel reviewed above we saw Leary and others fail in their search for Truth through the use of LSD.  In the end they just became addicted to the high.  It would be like just watching the trippy light show scene from 2001 over and over again, rather than the entire film.  The hero in Altered States is just as crazy as Leary, but a bit more serious about achieving his goal.  What a fascinating line of thought to realize that within us might be locked away the entire history of evolution.  Is there a way to tap into it?  Edward Jessop tries an isolation tank, then drugs, then a combination of both before hitting on the bullseye.  Though the film version is terrific, the novel is much better, with clearer goals and outcomes than the film.  The book is pretty short, highly readable and very highly recommended.  **** stars.

 

I read the Kindle edition. 

 

The Starless Sea is a book that I was greatly looking forward to reading.  Erin Morgenstern had written a fantasy masterpiece in her previous work The Night Circus.  I was excited to finally see her second novel arrive at the top of my reading list.  Published in 2019, I can honestly say that the book was a great disappointment.  It is a muddled mess with cardboard characters (less than dolls), no line of direction, and an ending so confusing that I doubt many readers (if they even read that far) came away with anything.  It's the kind of novel that some people might encounter and think they are reading something very profound.  While the ideas behind the book are original and very intriguing, their handling leaves so much to be desired.

 

For starters, the book is way too long. It needs a brutal edit.  That would hopefully knock off about 150 unnecessary pages. The author needs to focus on what it is she is doing, saying and trying to achieve.  None of the characters appear to know, usually a bad sign in a novel.  The lead character is a gay male gamer who gets caught up in a whirlwind of fairy tale activity, most of it below ground.  He is constantly off balance, wondering what is happening to him.  None of the characters grow or change in any way during the novel.  The author seems lost herself in a world of fairy tales, with the Alice stories uppermost in her mind as she writes.  While her fantasy world creations are every bit as enchanting as those found in the Alice stories, Morgenstern's wit and writing skills fall far below those of Lewis Carroll.  I cannot recall a single funny line in the current book, nor any attempt to link what is happening underground to anything above.  Humourless fantasy books become very tiring after a while, and this one really tuckered me.

 

As to the writing itself, there are some passages better suited to poetry; good poetry.  Most of the time, however, the writing is less than stellar.  I will give two examples; if you require more I can  easily provide them.  These examples are from Book V "The Owl King."

 

"A sword and a crown surrounded by a swarm of paper bees.  A ship without a sea.  A library.  A city.  A fire.  A chasm filled with bones and dreams.  A figure in a fur coat on a beach.  A shape like a cloud or a small blue car. A cherry tree with book-page blossoms." 

 

Seriously?  What the hell is that suppose to contribute to a 500 page novel?  Necessary?  Illuminating?  She is supposedly writing for adults.  I feel offended.  Another paragraph:

 

Zachary Ezra Rawlins looks down at words he has been longing to read, near delirious to have finally found another sentence that starts with the son of the fortune-teller in a familiar serifed typeface on a piece of paper removed from a book before being turned into a paper star and then gifted to him by a small owl and then he stops.

 

Quite the run on sentence, is it not?  Did this book even have an editor?  If you want more examples, message me or better yet read the book and keep count.  I stopped counting after a while.  Now we come to the ending, such as it is (spoiler alert).  Zachary Ezra Rawlins (as he is always called in the book by the author) dies.  But his boyfriend (luckily) found a beating heart in a box.  When they finally meet up, after searching for each other a long time, he places the heart (surgical technique not specified) in Zach and brings him back to life.  Afterwards, I believe they live happily ever after.  How's that for a terrific ending, after 499 pages of wandering around aimlessly and trying to figure out what is happening?  You may be wondering about that starless sea we hear so much about.  It's really far underground, and it consists of honey.  Yup.  Honey.  It rises up at the end, too.

 

Was there anything I liked about the book?  I liked the possibility of books being important in more than obvious ways.  I liked the idea of a fairy tale for adults.  I like some of the author's descriptions, and even her original fairy tale stories were quite good.  So it wasn't all a bad dream.  But it was a disappointing one.  ** stars.

 

I read the Kindle edition. 

 

I finished up with "Killer's Choice", #5 in Ed McBain's 87th Precinct series and published in 1957.  These are hard boiled police procedures along the lines of Dragnet, but the writing is amazingly good.  In 1957 detective work was an all boys club, and the 87th is no exception.  Usually more than one crime is dealt with in a book, and this one has two murder investigations going on at the same time.  A detective new to the squad arrives from a somewhat softer precinct, and he makes a  mistake that almost gets his partner killed.  Luckily he learn fast.  A brutal thief kills a cop during a robbery, and a woman is murdered at her liquor store workplace.  Both are interesting cases, but the woman's murder is better written in every way.  Two things stand out about the investigation into her murder.  Firstly, every person who knew her and was interviewed by the detectives give vastly a different version of who she really was.  Her ex, her mother, her employer etc all paint almost totally different pictures of her character.  This is not something readers encounter very often in detective stories, and it adds an intriguing dimension.  The second stand out feature is the woman's young daughter.  Monica is 5 and in kindergarten and lives with her mom (now deceased but she is never told in the story) and grandmother.  She is a charmer from the first time we meet her and proves to be a reliable witness after taking a phone call and telling the detectives about it.  All about it.  She has a flawless memory.  We really feel for this girl, who will have to live her life without her mother.  A very good entry in the series.  ***1/2 stars.

 

I read the Kindle edition. 

 

See you next month.

 

Mapman Mike 

 

 

 

 

 

 

End of the Month News

We've been back from London now for 3 weeks.  All 8 blog posts have been published and in some cases revised.  As memories of London fade a bit, thoughts turn to a Sudbury jaunt.  My mom has been in the hospital for several days after hurting her back.  She is in a senior rehab wing now and undergoing daily physio.  She expects to be released Wednesday if all goes well.  So we will likely drive up for a visit.  Despite its northern climate, Sudbury is expecting a brutally hot week coming up.  We used to drive straight up in one day, but the past several visits have seen us stay overnight in the Collingwood area, then continuing on next day to Sudbury.

 

I spent my first 22 years in Sudbury, including elementary school, high school(s) and college.  Deb lived there for about 9 years.  We met in high school, got married when she graduated from Gr. 13 and headed off to Windsor together to attend university, she as a fine arts major and me for music.  We were married at Lake Penage in the summer of 1976, meaning our 50th anniversary is coming up soon.  I'll probably still have a nap that day.  But we will try to do something special.

 

In music news, Deb has completed a project I have long wanted done.  I have cassette tape recordings of my piano playing dating back to 1974ish, when I attended Cambrian College as a music major.  These tapes were in various states of deterioration.  In addition, I had 9 professionally done cassette tapes of my concerts from 1994-1999.  She has managed to clean them up, remaster  and digitize them, and despite some wobbly bits due to tape issues, I now have a nearly complete record of my piano recordings.  And there are lots of them.  Nothing too recent, but now with my new piano recording pieces is so easy I will likely recommence.  If I find a way to put them on-line I will post about it here.

 

In movie news there are two to report, as well as an interesting Belgian TV series.  First the movies, both of them watched on Criterion.  Killer Nun (you heard that correctly) is from 1979, an Italian picture directed by Giulio Berruti and starring Anita Ekberg.  She plays the role of a well established nun in a convent who is starting to lose her marbles due to a drug habit.  The film makes it appear that whenever she gets high she brutally kills someone in the convent.  However, experienced viewers of Giallo films will immediately recognize the real killer, a nun made psycho by her grandfather's sexual abuse of her as a child, followed by no one believing her.  Not a great film, but there are some very disturbing and sadistic murders.  Lots of nudity.

 

Leaving Criterion May 31st. 

 

Even weirder was Behind Convent Walls, a 1978 Italian film directed by Walerian Boroczyk.  This is essentially a porno film (with murders) trying hard to be an art film, but not really succeeding at either.  It's pretty boring ,though some of the sex scenes may pop your eyes out.  Full nudity, generous use of dildoes and a few murders can't save this picture which really spins its wheels and goes nowhere.  I did enjoy the final scenes with a bishop trying to restore order among a flock of hysterical nuns.  The film makes me glad that convents have walls.

 

The film is leaving Criterion May 31st. 

 

Lastly comes a great TV series from Belgium that we have been watching.  Professor T (2015-18) is a middle aged man, highly intelligent, autistic (high functioning) and with a totally obsessive compulsion disorder.  Apparently the federal police detectives are incapable of solving any serious crimes in Belgian.  This is lucky for viewers, since they must rely a lot on the professor to solve them.  In addition to finding criminals who have murdered, the professor lectures law and criminology students at university.  His classes are always highly attended and great fun (also very instructive).  The director sometimes inserts random fantasies the professor has, almost reminding us of the Dennis Potter shows.  These fantasies are sometimes quite bewildering, but are often very, very funny.  We have watched 6 episodes so far.  I hope there are many more.  The Brits copied it and did their own version, which we have not seen.  Highly recommended.

 

Now showing on Prime.  We are watching the original Belgian series. 

 

Mapman Mike 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Return To Zork: A Review

There are six Zork games for PC worth knowing.  Three of them are text adventures, followed by three more standard adventure games for PC.  The text adventures are hilarious though all but impossible to get very far into.  They are ridiculously difficult, mostly due to quirky inventories and how they are used. First released in 1977, Zork 1 became the father figure for most adventure games that followed.  Return to Zork, the game under discussion here, was released by Activision in 1993, in the same month that Myst was released.  Two more different games could not be imagined.  Though I love both of them, at least Myst was playable without having an IQ of 160 and a completely warped sense of what to do next in a game.  When I originally played RTZ (March 2000) I found the game impossible to get very far without hints and a newly available walk through guide, and never managed to finish it.  People would congregate on forums trading ideas as to how to progress.  Hardly anyone ever finished the game back then, and I daresay no one ever did without the solutions in front of them.

 

So this review is really of a 2026 walk through, which took us about 5 hours.  Without a walk through in hand frustration will quickly erase any humourous moments the game provides.  And it provides plenty of humour.   The game follows the lead of the text adventures in its absurdity and unabashed use of very confusing mazes.  Yes, there are several mazes and none of them are the least bit fun.  While the humour helps support the game (in walk through mode), the graphics are a complete let down.  After playing Myst and trying this game, I was hugely disappointed back in the day to see what had been done with Zork.  I might have preferred the text games at the time.

 

The game opens at the white house as the man that lives there goes out to check for mail.  Soon he, and we, are sucked into the land of Zork, and our adventure begins on a hilltop overlooking a wide valley with a road leading down towards adventure land.   It all seems so exciting and fun.

 

We arrive in Zork, greeted by a buzzard and then a wizard.  We will soon descend the road into chaos.

   

Somewhere near the beginning this place is encountered.

 

Things I really like about the game are the different characters one encounters, including a cow that eats carrots and will only give milk if your hands are warm enough.  We meet a wood fairy, a bowman, a mayor, a blacksmith, a guy with a boat to take us across to the witch, a schoolteacher, some dwarves, a drunkard who wants to share his rye, a lighthouse keeper, a comedy club manager and a waif.  Now we come to a few of the puzzles.  How about trying to figure out that one must capture several rats to power an outboard motor on a boat?  Or lighting hay on fire in a barn, after feeding carrots to a cow, so you can warm your hands and milk her using a thermos?  How about burning a bra in an incinerator to retrieve a wire in which to pick a lock?  These all very funny, but damned near impossible to figure out.

 

Be prepared to die often, get robbed, and even get turned into a bog rat a few times by a witch who needs to be appeased.  You can be killed by grues at the hotel and booed out of the comedy club (that hurts).  And don't get me started on the bat guano, or the duck Canuk, or the joke book method.  Turning to the game's music for a moment, much of it is midi fun time.  I especially liked the Fools Monument theme.  However, if stuck on a puzzle, the music anywhere can be extremely annoying.

 

Don't expect to go this game alone.  Come prepared with a very good hint system, which will get you places, though not all places, and a walk through guide.  Even with both it still took us five hours to get  through the game.  Expect to spent eternity without help.  The game ran fine on Steam though the graphics are very pixelated.  Funny and enjoyable with help.  Frustrating and maddening without. 

 

East or West Shanbar, the only towns in the game.  You will meet some fun people there.

 

The witch's cave.  Do her a favour and she will do one for you.

 

You are live at Chuckles Comedy Club.  Bring your joke book and tape recorder when you meet people in the game.

 

Looks like we are at the lighthouse.

Up top at the lighthouse, if you get that far.

 

The famous control dam #3.

  

This is one of the most difficult puzzles in the game, lowering the bad bridge and raising the good one.

 

Outside the evil wizard's palace. 

 

There is also one movie to report, another World Cinema Project film, again introduced by Martin Scorcese.  Yam daabo (The Choice) is a film from Burkina Faso and directed by Idrissa Ouedraogo.  When was the last time you watched a film from Burkina Faso?  If like me, then likely never.  Do you even know where Burkina Faso is?  I didn't (but I do now).  Before watching this incredible film I knew nothing about this country.  But I think I know something about it now.  It is a simple story using mostly non-professional actors and limited dialogue.  The opening scene and final scene are nearly identical:  a village of desperate looking people await the coming of a regular food truck.  After the opening scene we watch as a family breaks away from the group and sets out on their own to try and seek a place where they can grow their own food and raise a family.  The story follows the family into the wilderness until they finally reach a river.  They begin to prepare the land for crops and to build huts in which to dwell.  A side story about a jealous bad guy isn't really needed to hold our interest, as the family itself is fascinating to watch, both through tragedy (the youngest boy is killed by a car en route to their paradise) and triumph (their crops grow and a son is born to the daughter of the patriarch).  The film is rich in human endeavour and hardship, and not even the bleak and mostly flat  landscape can keep us from hoping for their success.  A recommended film now showing on Criterion, along with a whole host of other treasured films from the World Cinema Project.  As usual, there is a short but very good documentary about the making of the film.

 

Now showing on Criterion.

 

 

More DSO

We've been back for a week now and routines have been going well.  Deb is hard at it on a new film, my piano practice has resumed and I've even been gifted with two clear nights for observing.  This time of year it's mostly galaxy viewing and I've seen some beauties lately.  I'm also at work on the London blog, with 3 posts up already and many more on the way.  A two week visit seems just right for us.  It was long enough to feel part of the great city again, and by the end we had pretty well worn ourselves out.

 

There are three films to report.  My book reviews will return in late May or early June.  But first, we watched another Detroit Symphony Live broadcast last night.  While there was no Mahler on the program, we did get Handel, Bach and Haydn.  After the Fireworks music I got to hear my favourite Brandenburg Concerto (#3), all all-string work featuring some of the best counterpoint ever written.  There is no 2nd movement, but the lead violinist improvised a bit before the cadence leading to the 3rd movement.  It was a superb performance.  These almost weekly broadcasts are free and can be watched on Youtube or the DSO website.  If on the website and you set up a free account you gain access to the DSO performance library, going back several years.  We will use this library when our Mahler project lifts off (see previous blog entry) as four of the 9 symphonies are available by the DSO.

 

Next came my favourite Haydn Symphony, #104, his last.  This work is truly a summation of all that Haydn stands for:  brilliant writing, engaging themes, all new material, four terrific varied movements and his characteristic optimism.  While nearly any one of the 104 symphonies could easily fill this list of achievements, 104 seems to do everything just a bit better than any of the others.  This was a performance to treasure, as conducted by Dame Jane Glover, a Baroque music specialist.  Hopefully these performances will be included in the DSO library.

 

While in London we usually have early nights.  For the first week we didn't turn on the telly, but we did the second week.  It was pretty grim offerings without any ad-free channels available.  However, Deb was able to get us into our Criterion account on her tablet and we watched a movie on the hotel TV screen.  I call it wizardry, but Deb seemed to pull it off easily.  The Heroic Trio is the first of a two part series.  From 1993 and directed by Johnnie To, he gives us a Hong Kong trio of female super heroines to treasure.  We have Thief Catcher, Wonder Woman and Invisible Girl battling bad guys everywhere they trod.  The action is practically nonstop and silly, but the stunts are quite amazing.  A baby snatching eunuch is terrorizing the city, but the gals at first are all opposed and fighting each other until they finally unite to defeat the evil in their midst.

 

Showing on Criterion. 

 

The 2nd film in the series is Executioners, also from 1993 and directed by To.  The same gals are back, but this film is quite different.  There is a level of violence more intense than the previous film, some of it so over the top as to be highly questionable and not inspiring a lot of confidence in the sanity of the director.  This one is set after a nuclear war.  The search for clean water is on, with the bad guys controlling the supply and constantly raising prices.  While the first film was enjoyable on a comic book level, this one wasn't.  Too much gratuitous violence spoils the recipe for a good campy film.  Many of the jokes fall flat as a result.  The stunts are as good as ever and the gals dish out the kicks and punches and receive it right back.  If you liked the first film you might consider giving this one a miss.

 

Now showing on Criterion. 

 

Lucia is a collection of three short films by Cuban director Humberto Solas from 1968.  Like many serious Criterion films this one comes with extras: a short intro by Martin Scorcese and a documentary about the film featuring interviews with the director and actors.  Here is the Criterion blurb:

 

A breathtaking vision of Cuban revolutionary history wrought with white-hot intensity by Humberto Solás, this operatic epic tells the story of a changing country through the eyes of three women, each named Lucía. In 1895, she is a tragic noblewoman who inadvertently betrays her country for love during the war of independence. In 1932, she is the daughter of a bourgeois family drawn into the workers’ uprising against the dictatorship of Gerardo Machado. And in the postrevolutionary 1960s, she is a newlywed farm girl fighting against patriarchal oppression. A formally dazzling landmark of postcolonial cinema, LUCÍA is both a senses-stunning visual experience and a fiercely feminist portrait of a society journeying toward liberation.

 

The first two films are quite good.  The photography is outstanding, especially when scenes of chaos are being depicted.  Battle scenes, the raping of several nuns and scenes of a crazy woman in the village (whom we learn was one of the nuns) are all handled with masterly acumen.  The end of the first film, when Lucia realizes she has betrayed her brother, she goes mad and seeks revenge on her false lover.  Once her madness is made manifest the director uses overexposure of film to enhance the effect.  It is brilliant (no pun intended)!  The third film is very hard to swallow, as the director tries to break the ice with his countrymen's overbearing machismo.  He chooses one of the worst characters in cinematic history who isn't by definition a criminal.  Lucia, as his new bride, is kept locked indoors whether he is there or out working.  She wants to work (as the revolution dictates she should) but he refuses to let her out of the house.  She finally rebels but doesn't seem to get very far.  This is supposedly a light-hearted film, but it is anything but.

 

Now showing on Criterion as part of Martin Scorcese's 

World Cinema Project.  All films in this series are worth watching. 

 

Mapman Mike 

 

 

 

Mahler 9th and the Search For Truth

This afternoon we were treated to a live television performance of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra featuring one work on the program: the Mahler 9th Symphony. It was conducted by Herbert Blomstedt, once a very favourite conductor of ours whom we had not seen in decades.  He is now in his 99th year (!!!) and still at it, appearing in Detroit to conduct this magnificent work.  Needless to say it is a sprawling work, with more to say about life and human existence in its 90 minutes than one could ever imagine.  While our search for Truth has taken many forms over our own longish life spans, music has been in the forefront and for very good reasons.

 

Is Truth an abstract idea or a concrete one?  Being the ultimate in ideas, the one we all are striving towards in some way or other, it is likely both and more.  The close study of Bach will bring one face to face with its abstract appearance, though his large religious works (such as the B Minor Mass) also reflect on human suffering and joy.  Listening to Mozart symphonies 35-41 will bring out the abstract even more clearly than Bach, with the joy of life also represented in his operas.  The struggles that Beethoven endured represent exactly what it means to be human: suffering, more suffering, some joy, perhaps, and then it is all over.  Mahler expands on Bach and Beethoven, encompassing the richness of the final years of the 19th C. and the sense of ongoing struggles with the search for Truth into the 20th C.

 

Mahler's 9 completed symphonies, along with his Song of the Earth, bring us the most complete look at what it means to be human.  There is great beauty contrasted with supreme ugliness; ultimate serenity with brashness and chaos; human pain and misery with the very lightness of being alive and happily aware of the fact.  Each symphony is like an epic book that needs to be read and reread, not only to explore things missed the first, second, or third time, but to reinforce the ideas presented and keep them uppermost in our minds as we grind away at our daily lives.  Walking around with high-level ideas in our head can help keep us focused on why we are even here in the first place, and should be of some aid in assisting us in what we should be doing and how we should be going about it.

 

After hearing today's performance I am more determined that ever to become reacquainted with all the symphonies of Mahler.  I already have healthy doses of Bach, Beethoven and Mozart passing within me, and I believe I have some room left over.  The symphonies should never be listened to all in one go, as in a solid weekend.  That would be like overdosing on a drug that may assist you if used reasonably, but kill you if overdosed.  Beginners should, in fact, take him one movement at a time, listening to the first symphony over the period of a week or so, and hearing some movements more than once before proceeding to the much denser 2nd symphony.   I'll keep readers posted on this topic.

 

We just returned from a two week visit to London U.K.  The trip was a major test for us (especially Deb) to see if world travel is still feasible for us.  Our favourite trips are road trips within the USA, usually using New Mexico as our destination.  Since we have opted to avoid the US for some time due to political circumstances, we turned to our favourite international destination instead.  I will have much more to say about this trip in my Travels Abroad blog, but will confine myself to a few words here.  It had been 8 years since we last visited London.  It has changed in many ways and seems busier and more chaotic than ever.  We did our best to avoid central London, as we have been doing for the past several visits, choosing instead more rural areas and park lands.  We also escaped the city completely on two fun day trips.

 

The main difference between a road trip to NM and a flight to London is that the road trip is fun from day 1 onward, whereas the London trip means total and complete misery on the first and last days.  If the journey itself is to be part of the experience, than we much prefer road trips.  Flying in 2026 should be a hassle free and pleasurable experience: it is not.  Even though we experienced no problems with our four flights (Windsor to Toronto; Toronto to Heathrow and return), flight days are severely taxing and best forgotten.

 

On our return home we discovered our backyard purple lilac bush in full bloom, singing away to itself and the bees in a degree of splendor we have never seen before.

 

If one photo had to sum up our visit to London, this would be it.

 

We returned to find our lilac bush amidst its finest bloom to date.  We brought a cutting from our house in Windsor back in 1991. 

 

Mapman Mike

 

 

Walking with Orthotics

Deb got new orthotics a few weeks back, at the same time I got my very first pair.  It's been making a difference, especially on longer walks.  While my legs still get tired, my feet remain comfortable and painless afterwards.  We both have indoor shoes that we wear with the orthotics, switching to our outdoor pair when needed.  They are easy to switch around.  No other insoles are needed, including the ones that come with the shoes.  Anyway, we've been putting in the miles lately, despite the warming temps.  Deb hasn't walked this much in a long time and while her breathing isn't yet at optimum levels, she is managing a 19 minute mile when it's flat.  So we can gobble up six miles in two hours, plus breaks.  If it's flat.  Here are a few pics from recent walks.

  

Due to recent rains the Canard River is flooding.  It's usually a quiet woodland stream.  

 

Canard River from a bridge along the rail trail path. 

 

 

A lot of trees were flowering today. 

A lady swan was sitting on her eggs today at the edge of a small island on our lagoon walk.  Deb spotted a tiny painted turtle, newly hatched, slowly dying on the path and in danger of being stepped upon.  We were able to place him in the water, where he seemed to revive quickly. 

 

As there were no suitable nights for astronomy (the fifth month in a row), my piano pieces are charging ahead.  About half of the program is memorized more or less, but there is still a considerable amount of work to do.  It is unlikely that the Chopin Nocturne will be ready, but I'll keep working on it for the next next recital (that is two recitals from now, not a typo).

 

In movie news there are two to report, one of them a feature film and the other a documentary about the picture.  Chess of the Wind is an Iranian film from 1976 which was virtually ignored when it came out, then banned in 1979.  All of the prints and negatives were reported to have been destroyed.  The documentary tells how the a copy of the negative was found, and how the film was restored to its original condition.  Directed by Mohammad Reza Aslani, he had given up on ever hoping to see the film again.  It had brought him so much grief that he had mixed feelings when it was rediscovered many years later.  With his help the restoration can be considered a very authentic one.  It is an edgy tale of murder set within an aristocrat's house in Tehran.  The use of colour is a wonder to behold, and the story will keep viewers off balance throughout.  
Recommended viewing.

 

Now showing on Criterion. 

 

The Majnoun of the Wind is a 2022 documentary by the director's daughter Gita Aslani Shahrestani, and is almost as good as the film.  There is a great section where the director of Chess (her father) takes us on a tour of the now abandoned house, reviewing scenes from the film where they were shot.  While the feature film stands on its own, having this documentary is a great addition for interested viewers.  Criterion also has a short intro by Martin Scorcese, whose World Cinema Project financed the restoration.

 

Now showing on Criterion. 

 

Mapman Mike

 

 

Some Good News

After a nearly two year battle with various health issues, Deb is finally back to her old self.  Her check up yesterday indicated that she is on a good path.   This opens up the world of travel for us, so watch this space in the next month or so to see where we might be headed (Europe or UK), if there is enough jet fuel to take us there and back.  We are excited to be able to have choices again, though sadly New Mexico will still have to wait until at least the next president of the US comes on board.

 

We have had so much rain of late that outdoor walking has not been feasible.  More rain is the way tomorrow, but then it should dry out enough for us to walk the local trail again.  We've had some decent if warm walks so far, with two segments left to tackle of the seven segment trail.  Wildflowers are beginning to appear and we came across several impressive stands of trout lilies.

 

A lovely bunch of trout lilies, from our walk earlier in the week. 

 

In PC gaming news we are currently working on two games.  Return To Zork is a very old game, and almost impossible to figure out.  We are doing this oldie but goodie with a walkthru, enjoying the jokes and the primitive scenery.  "Want some rye? 'Course ya do."  

 

Scene from Return to Zork, which we are playing with a walkthru guide. 

 

The other game is the much more dark and serious Zork Nemesis, one of my all-time favourite PC games from yesteryear.  We are attempting this one on our own, though my notes from my last time (year 2000) are coming in handy.  It's amazing that these old games can still run on new machines and Win 11, thanks to Steam and other platforms.  They are also very inexpensive.  More on these as we go along.

 

Scene from the library in the main temple building from Zork: Nemesis, a much more serious game. 

 

In movie news there are a few to report, including a short film. First the features.  Guilty Bystander is a 1950 b & w film directed by Joseph Lerner.  This is a great little B noir starring Zachary Scott as a washed up former police detective, Max Thursday, living in a seedy flophouse and drinking himself into oblivion.  The story about a kidnapped little boy (his son) is almost an aside compared to the characters and locations (NYC) in the film.  This is an amazing film with many unforgettable moments, including the gangster boss with a bad ticker who shouldn't be getting too excited over anything.  This one is worth another viewing, but it's leaving Criterion for now.  Hopefully it will return.

 

A terrific noir film leaving Criterion this month. 

 

An unforgettable film can work two ways.  The above film is unforgettable in a good way, while the next film would rather be forgotten but likely cannot.  The World's Greatest Sinner is pretty much a one man effort, directed by and starring Timothy Carey.  It is a b & w film from 1962 and features one of the creepiest leading men ever put on film.  Carey quits his job as an insurance salesman (I don't blame him there) and becomes a sort of populist preacher.  His mantra is that every man is a god, especially himself.  He begins by shouting his message at gathering places and eventually gets a small following of fellow wackos.  He leaves his wife and kids and becomes more and more popular until he has achieved full cult status.  He uses women, some as young as 14, and becomes so full of himself that there can be no turning back.  His life becomes one big parade of sleaze and lies, until its ultimate conclusion.  The film was fully restored and can be seen better than it ever was when new.  The music is by a young man calling himself Zappa (!).  Carey also wrote for Kubrick (The Killing and Paths of Glory).  Highly not recommended, it is still a film one should see (Does that make sense).

 

Leaving Criterion in a few days.  Be thankful. 

 

King of the Night is from 1975 and is a Brazilian film directed by Hector Babenco.  Here is the Criterion blurb:

 

Héctor Babenco’s first feature traces the descent of Tertuliano (Paulo José), a once-promising aspiring lawyer, into a life of decadence and amorality on the bohemian fringes of São Paulo as he falls into tempestuous relationships with several women, including a sex worker (Marília Pêra). Tracing both Tertuliano’s slide into self-destructive hedonism and São Paulo’s changing social landscape from the 1920s to the 1970s, KING OF THE NIGHT is a striking first expression of Babenco’s career-long concern with life on the margins. 

 

Tertuliano is as sleazy and low as the character from the above film, Sinner.  He chews through women, making demands of them while he lives a more carefree life.  He is particularly harsh on his favourite girlfriend, a singer and prostitute whom he lives with for a time.  But he spares no mercy for three sisters his mother wants him to meet.  He drives the youngest insane, marries the middle one and eventually murders her after tormenting her for far too long, then has sex with the eldest at his wife's funeral, taking her in the kitchen while guests wait in the living room for coffee.  He ends up paying for his sins, spending 15 years in prison and then working jobs such as carrying advertising signs up and down the street and handing out pamphlets.  At the end he is in a retirement home when who should come marching in but the first love of his life.  They then live happily ever after at the home together.  If you enjoy watching despicable characters parade through a film, this one has your name on it.  Enjoy.

 

Now showing on Criterion. 

 

The final feature is from our DVD collection "Chilling Classics" and is called I Bury The Living.  From 1958 it sounds as if it might be a trope-filled horror, but it's actually a neat little noir starring Richard Boone.  As an influential town business man he must take over directorship of a cemetery for a year, a job that is passed around among town leaders.  The film centers around a wall map of the cemetery and plots.  It is filled with pins, black for people already buried and white for those who bought plots but haven't needed them yet.  When he mistakenly sticks two black pins into plots that should have white ones, the two people are killed in an accident.  He wonders if it was chance, and sticks another black pin into a white plot.  Same result.  The film has been compared to a longer Twilight Zone episode.  Up until the very stupid (and impossible) ending, this is a very effective and well directed film.  With a much better ending this could have truly become a cult classic.  As it is it's still worth a view.

 

From our 50 movie pack "Chilling Classics." 

 

Lastly comes a nifty short film that I wish had been made into a feature.  The Hedonists is a 2016 film from China with a running time of 26 minutes.  Three miners are laid off from their job when their mine closes down.  Being eternal optimists they try out for some new jobs.  This very funny look at job searching makes for a gem of a film.  First they try out as bodyguards for a big crime boss.  That doesn't go so well, especially as their middle ages seem to define them.  Next they try out for actors in a pageant in a new complex that will welcome tourists for historical reenactments.  As it turns out they aren't quite in tune with their boss.  A lovely film, and the three characters are welcome heroes of this short film.

 

A short Chinese film leaving Criterion April 30th. 

 

Mapman Mike