A Quickie

Busy times here at the Homestead, so I will be extra brief tonight.

Touch of Evil, directed by Orson Welles and from 1958, features the director playing one of the most hideous characters to ever infect the big screen.  The action takes place in border cities of Mexico and the USA, likely based on Tijuana and its adjacent American counterpart.  Welles seems to relish playing bad guys who are far beyond morality.  With Janet Leigh and Charlton Heston (as a Mexican!).  In b & w, and perhaps the noiriest noir ever put on film.

Now showing on Criterion. 

Deb's weekend picks began with a Hong Kong "Wuxia" film called Raining In The Mountain  Directed by King Hu, it is from 1979.  Filmed at a Buddhist Monastery, where most of the plot and action take place, this one is sizeable notch above the average film of its type.  For one thing, there is very little fighting, and much more intrigue.  Timing in some of the scenes, as one character enters and another exits, is often brilliant and very funny.  Bad guys are after a sacred scroll, and a new leader of the monks is about to be chosen.  Long film, but the time flies.  Good fun.

 

Leaving Criterion very soon.

 

It's actually Deb's festival weekend, so she gets five picks in a row. From Mubi, she chose Swan Song, from 2021.  Directed by Todd Stephens, the film was entirely shot in Sandusky, Ohio, a Lake Erie city that used to be a hangout for us.  An aging hairdresser escapes his nursing home and embarks on an odyssey across his small town to style a dead woman’s hair for her funeral, rediscovering his sparkle along the way.  The first part in the nursing home is very grim (he compulsively folds napkins), but once he escapes and heads into town, things take a really fun turn.  Udo Kier seems perfect in the role, and his fashion sense and charm are on full display.

Showing on Mubi. 

Next came Flowers of Tapei: Taiwan New Cinema, a documentary from 2014 about Taiwan cinema of the 1980s.  We have seen a few of the films, and thought that the doc might be of some interest.  However, it was very poorly constructed, and really didn't have much to say about the pictures from that time.  One of the very few unhelpful documentaries I have seen lately.  Disappointing.  Watch the movies from that time instead.

Now showing on Mubi. 

Deb still has two choices left, so more on those later.  And we are not far away from the March reading summary.  See everyone soon.

Mapman Mike

 

 

 

Welcome To Spring

Our own welcoming party here at the Homestead was pretty subdued this year.  Deb seemed to be fighting off a sleeping sickness, and I was recovering from another chilly night of late night observing with the telescope.  So there was no wood fire, but there was music, changing of the art on our walls, and revealing the new Tarot cards for this cross-quarter time.  My card indicates that my inward journey should continue, but I have had almost enough of inward journeying for the present.  It might be finally time for an outward journey.  At least Deb's new card thinks so for her.  I know that reading and practicing piano are inward journeys, and they will certainly continue.  My passion for astronomy is a combination of inward and outward journeying.  And travel can also be both.  So if I do travel, I will try to make it about inward journeying as much as outward.

 

Our little front garden got mostly destroyed last year, back when we were getting new eaves troughs installed, and also the major cement project.  So it's mostly starting over time for it, though the snowdrops returned, as did some old bulbs.  We also planted a short ton of new bulbs last fall, and they seem to be thriving.  Right won we have two kinds of flowers showing; I'll return with new photos in a few weeks time.

The front garden is recovering slowly from last year's construction projects.

 

Our two kinds of flowers currently on show: snowdrops and a tiny crocus.

 

Getting right into film watching, there are a few good ones to report (as usual).  My main choice for last week was called Loving Highsmith, a documentary about Patricia Highsmith from 2022, directed by Eva Vitija.  I have read most of her books, some of them twice, and she remains a favourite of mine.  The documentary includes a few scenes from movies made from her books, as well as lots of interviews with her and film of her.  She was a lesbian who wrote the first known book about such folk that had a happy ending.  "Carol" was made into a very good film recently, too, which we have both seen and liked a lot.  But of course her most famous character is the Ripley, where most people first come across her writing.  Of course she was a bit of a strange person, and she often comes across as cool on camera.  But the film once again highlights the trauma of having to break with family and friends because of one's sexual orientation.  Overall, the film is quite good, and does a good job of tracing her life and loves.

 

Now showing on Criterion. 

 

My leaving choice was a b & w Bollywood musical comedy drama noir called Aar Paar (Heads or Tails).  From 1954, it is directed by Guru Dutt, who also plays the lead male actor.  It begins with him being released from jail early for good behaviour.  His speeding caused an accident and he was jailed.  He becomes involved with bank robbers, and falls in love with the daughter of a man who runs a garage.  At first he is given a job, but when dad finds out that he is a jailbird, he fires him.  Plenty of songs, some dancing, and a general feeling of goodness make the movie fun to watch.  It runs for 2 1/4 hours, so I'm not sure that western viewers would make it to the happy ending.

 

Leaving Criterion March 31st. 

 

Deb's main choice for last weekend was another fine documentary, this one called M. C. Escher: Journey to Infinity.  Showing on Wondrium, it is a film from 2018.  It is filled with his prints, great footage and photos of him, and words from his diaries read by Stephen Fry.  I thought I knew most of his prints, but there are many wonderful ones shown here I had never before seen.  His mathematical turning point was a visit to Granada, Spain, where he first came into contact with the abstract tiles, with repeating designs that fit together.  This sent him off into a new world of discovery and artistic invention.  A brilliant man, served well by this informative and uplifting film.

Now showing on Wondrium (The Great Courses). 

 

Deb's leaving choice was taken from Mubi, an Iranian film from 2018 called Three Faces.  The director, Jafar Panahi, also stars as himself in the film.  One of his lead actresses is sent a suicide video from a teenage girl in a small mountain village, a girl that wanted to become an actress.  However, she lives among truly medieval people back home, and is unable to escape.  Fearing the worst, the director and actress hit the road, winding their way slowly through the mountains to the village, in search of the girl, who may or may not be dead.  Along the way we get a pretty vivid glimpse of mountain village life in 2018, and much of it isn't very pretty.  The people of the village are friendly enough, but they just don't want anyone from their village to be an actor or entertainer.  This is another one of those quiet, understated films that really pack a fine wallop, and is well worth seeking out.

 

Leaving Mubi in 5 days. 

 

I will conclude with one of the worst films I have ever seen.  Expecting at the very least some humour, and perhaps some funky clothing, Blackenstein, from 1973.  Yeesh, what a mess.  A black soldier wounded in Vietnam (he now has no arms or legs) is put back together by white Doctor Stein.  But his evil assistant wants the girl (doesn't matter what girl), and switches the DNA, turning the wounded war hero into a killing monster.  He kills and kills and kills and kills, and then he is killed.  Total crap from beginning to end (and through the middle).  It actually gets worse and worse as it goes along.  Some terrible songs are thrown in, too.  Mercifully, the movie is leaving Criterion March 31st.

Leaving Criterion March 31st.  Avoid at all costs. 

 

Mapman Mike

 

 

 

 

Astronomy Season

So far this session I have enjoyed one clear night.  A very chilly clear night.  My lonely sight near giant windmills had snow and ice on the ground.  On arrival just after sundown it was 25 F.  Upon leaving around 11:30 pm it was 21 F.  I usually use a small computer to locate fainter objects that are difficult to find by just "pointing," but it was too cold for the little 9v battery that powers it.  So I went back to my primitive observing days and "pointed."  I didn't do too badly, either.  I am currently observing the tail end of winter constellations.  The spring ones are well up by the time I pull out.  I am on the fringe of the Milky Way in Canis Major and Puppis, both low lying constellations from northern latitudes.  But talk about stars!  When observing galaxies, the observer is usually looking away from the Milky Way, into deep space.  But when looking towards the Milky Way (summer and winter, mostly), the observer peers into the star fields and clusters that make up our galaxy.  So Tuesday night was all about observing star clusters.  I managed to log 13 new ones for me, including a deep southern globular cluster in Puppis that I never thought I would see so clearly.  It was a spectacularly clear night.

It is now cloud, rain, and snow season once again, but Sunday night looks promising (but cold). 

Deb has been sorting through our vast comic book collection from the 70s and 80s.  She is preparing to sell them off tomorrow.  We'll see how that goes.  Had the mice not chewed a good many of them, and water not damaged many others, we might have made a sweet bundle from the sale.

Deb's newest film is now out there, as it begins to enter festivals.  And there has already been an acceptance, from Atomacon in North Charleston, South Carolina.  It's a major SF event that also has a SF film festival.  The short (12') animated film takes a short story I wrote many years ago, updates and improves it, and has the look of a graphic novel.  We are both hoping it will be widely accepted by certain kinds of film festivals, and we seem to be off to a good start (if you wish to see the film, go to Deb's website (see link at upper left).  Near the top of her "films" page is a link to Will Ye No Come Back Again).

In film news, possibly the stupidest film to ever win a major Oscar managed to win an Oscar.  As I said in an earlier blog, the movie seems perfect for its time.  Everyone everywhere wants everything, and they want it now.  The breakneck pace of the film is also indicative as to what social media and instant gratification has done to the human brain (so far).  It can (and will) get worse, especially when the slew of copy cat films begin to emerge.  I might have been the only person on the planet in the 1970s who thought that Star Wars was the worst SF movie I'd ever seen (my opinion hasn't changed much).  So I might also be the only person on the planet (though Deb agrees with me) who thinks that the 2023 Oscar winner is a load of virtually worthless celluloid.

At the opposite end of the film spectrum from the 2023 Oscar winner is a film we recently saw by Jim Jarmusch, and both loved.  Take this review as the kind of movie that I think people really ought to be watching.  Paterson, from 2016, is a quiet film where not much happens.  It's about a man named Paterson who is a bus driver in Paterson, NJ.  We follow him and his wonderfully quirky wife through one week of their day to day existence.  It will be a rewarding week in many ways, mostly for viewers.  Paterson (the bus driver) is also a poet, and his mind is constantly turning over words and phrases as he goes through his day.  They live in a small house and own a small dog.  Every evening Paterson takes the dog for a walk, leaving the dog outside a neighbourhood bar as he sips his nightly glass of beer.

Besides the man, the wife, and the dog, we get to know the bartender, a few of the customers, and two people interested in poetry that briefly encounter Paterson.  There is only one dramatic moment in the whole movie, and it is brief and thankfully resolves calmly.  Even when the bus breaks down with passengers, it is a quiet event, though the director gets some mileage from it.  With just the right amount of humour, love, passion, and memorable moments, this film should have won even more awards than it did.  The dog did win the Palme Dog at Cannes, anyway.  A true sleeper film, it should not be missed by any cinema lover.

Now showing on Mubi, and worth several viewings. 

My leaving choice for the week was Maelstrom, a film by Denis Villeneuve from 2000.  Entertaining if somewhat forgettable, it follows a troubled young woman through several catastrophic events that occur almost simultaneously:  she has an abortion and it truly bothers her, she loses her job, and she kills a man in a hit and run accident while drunk driving.  With three strikes like that against you, it's tough to go on.  She meets the son of the man she killed, and things get even more complex.  His earlier film, August 32nd on Earth was also a challenge to watch, though it did have its rewards, like this film.  Not for everyone, but a credible film nonetheless.  However, coming right after the Jarmusch feature, well, it just doesn't stand up.

Leaving Criterion March 31st. 

Deb's main film choice last weekend was Oliver Sacks: His Own Life, a fascinating look into the famous author and neurologist, with plenty of film devoted to him speaking in his last year of life.  He brought the subject into the 21st C, and though he was ridiculed and ignored for much of his life, he now has a worldwide following and a legacy that has led many into the field for themselves.  His  observations and insight into the human mind, especially as it relates to Alzheimer's, Tourette, and other almost untouchable problems of the mind have advanced the cause several degrees.  His life was very troubled.  As a gay doctor he was unable to fulfill any kind of relationship on peril of being jailed until his later years, and his treatments and written studies were rejected by the medical community.  The documentary is a pretty straight forward one, but fairly representative of a helpful life lived to its fullest.  Highly recommended.  We have only read his music book Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain.  I will be adding to that list very soon.

From 2019, now showing on Mubi.

Finishing up Deb's weekend choices was Guy Madin's film of the Winnipeg Ballet's version of Dracula, Pages From a Virgin's Diary.  From 2002 it has a running time of less than 75 minutes, but seems way longer.  It is not that riveting to watch on the screen, despite many cinematic techniques at work.  I'm not sure I would have even enjoyed the actual ballet.  Let's just say that it's a story that has been done before, and though to my knowledge it has never been danced till now, that might just be a good thing.  Not the way to start getting into Guy's films.  In b & w, with colour accents (such as blood).

Leaving Criterion March 31st. 

Mapman Mike

 

 

 

 

Our Weekly Snowstorm

Seems to be a thing on Fridays lately.  Though we are supposed to get around 5" of snow today, we've only had a little over 2" so far.  Not complaining, as it's been a relatively good winter.  Detroit (and we are not very far away) had its 7th warmest winter since records began.  What we have had, instead of cold temps and large snowfalls, is a lot of extreme wind.  But our house is gradually becoming more and more immune to such nonsense.  Two more windows to add next year, and we will be almost weatherproof for the coldest and windiest days.

Tonight (Friday) my piano professor, Philip Adamson, will complete his performance of all 32 Beethoven sonatas, a multi-year project that he began in March of 2016.  Shut down by Covid for 2 years, he is at last about to finish it up.  If our weather gets no worse we should be able to attend.  My own piano practice continues to go pretty well.  My memorization part is complete, though weak in several spots.  Another few weeks should do it.  In listening news, we are now into the late Beethoven piano sonatas, as we inch our way towards completion of that major listening project--everything Beethoven ever wrote.

Last Monday we celebrated the March full moon.  The opera for this month was Schumann's Faust, conducted by Benjamin Britten!  Some of those records we have are real treasures!  We enjoyed a nearly perfect wood fire, as we continue to burn off fallen wood from our property from many years ago.  We already have about a ten year supply, which will be added to greatly once Nathan the tree guy cleans up our yard from last month's ice storm.  On March 21st we will reduce the use of our furnace for day time heating, switching over to the wood pellet stove.  At night the furnace will still run on a low setting, and upon awakening we will heat the house to 68 F, then switch it off for the day.  Even though it's been a mild winter, it is costing us about $8 per day to heat the house, due to the high price of natural gas.  An $8 bag of pellets, by comparison, would last at least two days, and probably more.

On Wednesday we made our long delayed trip to Detroit.  Our main objective was to purchase a new US cell phone.  We already have a terrific US phone plan, and the phone works perfectly from our house, too.  Once away from the river there is no service, but we can see the cell tower across the river from our yard, so it works perfectly here for texting, phone calls, and data.  Anyway, we got a really good phone for $50 US, and were able to transfer our Detroit phone number to it without any hassle.  We pay $21 every three months for unlimited texts, calls, and some data.  The best part of the deal is that everything not used that month rolls over and accumulates.  So we have tons of data saved up from Covid days, and virtually unlimited text and calling.

We also managed to get to one of my favourite brewery taprooms in Detroit, which now shares space with our favourite bakery/cafe.  Jolly Pumpkin Brewery (photo below) has allowed Avalon Bakery to share its space.  The cafe closes at 3 pm.  We were able to share some beer, and then have coffee and cookies.  Talk about one stop shopping at its finest!!

Inside Jolly Pumpkin, facing the taps.  They now share their space with Avalon. 

 

In film news Deb has started work on her next film, a very short one (under a minute) about a small rock floating through space.  Yep; the main character in her next film is a rock.  Watch for it soon.  Tomorrow I will record part of a Schumann piano piece that she needs for it.

In film watching news, there are several to report.  My leaving March 31st choice from Criterion was the 1979 Nosferatu The Vampyre, directed by Herzog.  This might be the fourth time for us, but it has been a while.  Despite the trop ending, and the ridiculous look of the Count (harkening back to the silent version of the film), there are still some very fine moments in this film, especially the arrival at the castle, and the arrival of the Count's ship.  The ending is bothersome, because Lucy, who is the bravest person one could ever imagine, dies for nothing.  And the character of Van Helsing is totally useless, too, until the very end.  With some minor adjustments this could have been a definitive filming of the novel, but alas, it isn't.  Lots of very cute rats eating whatever it is they put down for them.

Showing on Criterion until March 31st. 

 

Deb's leaving choice was Q: The Winged Serpent, a horror film from 1982 about a dragon-like bird spreading death and panic in a very sunny and cheerful New York City.  Michael Moriarty gives the performance of his life as a demented small time crook who discovers the nest.  He steals virtually every scene he is in.  Also stars David Carradine as the detective trying to put a stop to the killings.  It's all a bit silly, but fun nonetheless.

 

Leaving Criterion March 31st. 

 

For her main choice, Deb picked four Buster Keaton shorts, each about 20-23 minutes long.  From 1920 came One Week and Neighbours.  Though both have incredible scenes and are quite funny, One Week is by far the better film.  A man and woman build a house from a kit in one week, though things don't go quite as the plans show.  The best part of neighbours has Buster trying to get across to his girlfriends house across the yard, in many ingenious ways.  The most incredible version of this is the piggyback method, where no less than three people are carried across the yard and into matching windows.  Keaton had a thing for window opening, and a version of his famous falling wall scene is in One Week.

From 1921 came Hard Luck, with its focus on suicide attempts, none of which are successful.  Like the old Looney Tunes cartoons, there were things done back in the day that could never be done today (and pass for humour).  Again, there are some very funny and original moments in the film.  From 1922 came The Electric House.  Through a diploma mix-up, Buster is chosen to install electricity and numerous gadgets to a large house (he really has a degree in Botany).  We have an escalator, a toy train that delivers food to the table from the kitchen, a dishwasher, a pool table, and many other ingenious things that make this film fun to watch.

All four (and dozens more) now showing on Criterion. 

 

Mapman Mike

 

 

Joining the 21st C

 We finally broke down and got high speed internet.  Our old DSL service with MNSi, a local company that we really like, was supposed to be upgraded early this year.  But now they say that our wait will be indefinite.  So goodbye, MNSi.  We are now hooked up with Virgin, jumping from a download speed of 5-6 mbps to around 30.  Better yet, our woeful upload speed went from 1 mbps to around 10.  Deb's newest film would have taken about 6 hours with the old service; today it took just 23 minutes.  The technician was here for about two hours, having to string a new line from the street to our house.  Then he had to drill a new hole in our wall, pass the cable through, and set up the router/modem, which is all in one unit.  So here we are, faster than ever at last.

We had a nasty snow/rain event overnight, but we made out just fine.  The snow was extremely heavy to move this morning, so I did the minimal amount knowing a technician was coming.  But by late afternoon the melting was well underway.  We are now heading towards a full moon, which means that the new astronomy session is less than a week away (if it's clear).  So there will be one more full moon before we can talk about Easter/Eostre.  But official Spring is just around the corner.  Our poor snowdrops have been through the ringer lately, but are managing to pull through.  Our daffs and crocuses are soaring sunward, too.

Our snowdrops do battle with the elements.

                                                        The sun is out--all is now well.

In movie news, I finished up my end of month festival with another oddball movie. Celine and Julie Go Boating is from 1974, and is directed by Jacques Rivette. It is tied for 78th place in the newest Sight and Sound poll. It is a true epic, lasting for 195 minutes. Though pretty nerve-wracking at times, and despite wanting to slap the two main actresses occasionally, this turned out to be a fun, though highly unusual, film. At its heart it is a ghost story, about a haunted house and the people in it who perpetually reenact a fateful day when a female child was murdered.  Despite the heavy sounding topic, the film is light as air, and often very funny.  The two lead women seem to share one single life, despite one being dark haired and the other an orangey redhead.  They meet in an odd way, have a very odd sort of courtship and relationship, and take turns visiting the haunted house to try and get at the heart of the mystery--who killed the little girl.  There are some very clever uses of repeating certain scenes, with only very slight differences, and of having the two women change places when it comes to a boyfriend of one them, and a possible entertainment tour for the other.  Definitely a recommended film, with many refreshing moments, but with a few reservations, time being one of them.  Should it be in the top 100 of all time?  No.  And if you want to see them literally go boating, viewers will have to wait until the very end of the film.  So it's not a film for boating enthusiasts.

 

Showing on Criterion. 

 

Following my three festival picks, I got to choose my regular film for the week.  I chose a short one, due to the length of the previous choice.  Still/Here is a documentary from 2000, directed by Christopher Harris.  It's a meditative sight and sound glance at the disintegration of older buildings in St. Louis, MO.  It could easily be Detroit, Chicago, or a dozen other rust belt cities.  Parts of the film are like still photos, but with rain falling, distant thunder booming, or wind blowing.  Only 60 minutes long, it provided a welcome relief from the many strange films we have been watching of late.

A still shot from Still/Here, showing on Criterion. 

 

Mapman Mike

 

 

 

End of February Film Festival

We will get right to movies, but before discussing the (on-going) Festival, I'll talk first about Deb's two choices for last weekend.  The first one was another film by Park Chan-Wook.  The Handmaiden is from 2016, and is one of the more bizarre stories to be told.  A man has his very young niece trained to read erotic literature to a select audience of "gentlemen" once she grows up.  He is a cruel man who prizes rare erotic books more than anything else, and he has an octopus in the basement, in case anyone gets difficult to manage.  We don't realize the octopus connection until we see, later, some of the erotic drawings in the books.  A plot emerges to bring in a handmaiden to the niece, who will inherit a fortune that her uncle badly wants.  The plan is to put her away in an asylum.  The plot is complicated, but not hard to follow.  However, there are many twists and turns, as the niece falls in love with the handmaiden, and vice versa.  There are some heavy duty lesbian sex scenes, some very weird lines from old erotic books,and lots of other fun things in this recommended film.  From a book by Welsh writer Sarah Waters, it was moved to take place in Japanese occupied Korea.

Now showing on Mubi. 

Deb's going away choice was from Mubi.  There is probably no stranger filmmaker working today than Canada's Guy Maddin.  We first came across his work many years ago, and even got to meet him and chat at length when the DIA held a film retrospective weekend of his work.  About twenty people showed up for the films.  Not surprising.  But if you don't try to "get" Maddin, and if like truly strange films, usually in b & w, and you are ready for just about anything except what you have ever seen before, then perhaps Maddin is your ticket to fun and adventure!  He is for us.  Brand Upon The Brain is from 2006, and once you have viewed this film, your brain will be branded permanently.  Told in twelve chapters like a silent serial with sound effects and cue cards (in French!), the film tells of a family of four--mom, dad, Sis, and Guy, who run an orphanage on a deserted island, in a lighthouse.  Dad is a scientist and inventor who is always in his top floor lab, working.  Mother runs the orphanage, hates Sis her daughter, but loves her young son, taking him to bed with her every night.  A teen detective, who is also a harp player, shows up on the island to try and solve the mystery of why the orphans have holes in the back of their heads.  Heard enough?  I thought so.  Anyway, it is a very compelling feature to watch.  I'm surprised it got shown anywhere, but am grateful it did.  Watch for more Maddin madness soon!

Avant-garde madness from Guy Maddin.  It's run on Mubi is now over. 

 

Turning now to the end of the month film festival, I got to choose three films (besides my regular two).  I opted for three more from the Sight and Sound Top 100 list, from the ones showing on Criterion.  This time I started at the far end, choosing films we have not ever seen.  First up came a very taut drama directed by Robert Bresson.  A Man Escaped is from 1956, and is based on a true story, as told by the escapee himself after the war.  A French Resistance fighter is captured by the Germans and held in a prison.  He escapes once, but is recaptured and beaten.  Again he is locked up,this time for months.  The b & w film details his laborious method of escaping; at the last minute he is joined by a young French boy, also captured, who might be an informer.  He has to risk it, however, as his own execution is imminent.  Tied for 95th spot with several other films, this is an amazing display of camera virtuosity, often in tight frame due to cramped quarters.  The story is almost unbelievable.  Quite fabulous!

 

Now showing on Criterion. 

 

Tied for 90th spot comes Max Ophul's The Earrings of Madame de..., from 1953.  A spoiled woman who acts like a love-struck and flighty schoolgirl sells her diamond earrings to pay off some debts.  Her husband doesn't know at first, but he does find out that his wedding present to her was sold.  Her lover ends up buying them for her, and so on and son.  Lots of ballroom scenes, and a duel at the end, from which we hear the gunshot but do not see the result.  The schoolgirl faints (for the upteenth time) and the movie ends.  Probably a good film, but it does not belong in the top 100.  Certainly not on my top 500 list.

 

Now showing on Criterion.

We have just began the final film of the festival, so tune in by the weekend for an update.  Oh, and we are getting a major snowstorm on Friday.  Yay.

 

Mapman Mike

 

 

 

 

February Books Read

Despite being a short month, and with three astronomy nights in there as well, I still managed to read 11 books; seven from my Avon/Equinox SF Rediscovery project, one off the shelf, and three from Kindle.  Needless to say my actual miscellaneous shelf is now down to about five books, from about fifty not so long ago.  Almost everything I buy now is on Kindle, at least 95 % of my book purchases.

The month always begins with Robert Silverberg, but this time he collaborated with Isaac Asimov.  There are at least three such books I will be reading in the course of completing the project (someday).  Nightfall is from 1990, and was the first collaboration.  Very loosely based on a 1940s short story by Asimov, the novel is the story of a post-holocaust society, much like the ones written by nearly every other SF author, including Algis Budrys, John Christopher (his specialty), Edgar Pangborn, and so on.  The differences here are worth noting, however.  This is an alien society, much like humans on Earth, but they are not humans on Earth.  They live on a planet with six suns, and dark skies are unknown here.  Except once every 2049 years.   Still, after the Mad Max movies, and so many previous tales of the mayhem that will ensue when society collapses, I am surprised that this book was written.  Of course without those big names on the cover, it is doubtful if it ever would have been published.

Isle of Woman by Piers Anthony was next.  From 1993 comes the first book in yet another epic series, this one under the title of Geodyssey.  This first book is 470 pages long, including the author's afterword.  In his own words, this is 'history light,' and the simple writing seems aimed at a high school audience.  He said that he hated history in school, finding it dull.  He wanted to make it more interesting with this series, which begins with a story from 3.7 million years ago, up to one from the near 'future' of 2021.   Probably something I would have found interesting around Grade Ten or Eleven.  I have one more Anthony book in my collection, the second book of this series.  At that point, I will likely stop reading Anthony's series.  I will carefully check out any remaining single novels before buying anything else by him.  59 books read so far, which is not even half of what he has written.  This book wins cover of the month.

Cover of the Month for Feb. 2023 goes to artist Eric Peterson.

From 1975 comes Boarders Away the 128 page continuation of the fascinating story of Commander Fox, that devil of the high seas.  Now under the command of a man he detests, obstacles to promotion are again put in Fox's path.  He always performs gloriously, craftily, and ruthlessly, yet is seldom, if ever, given the recognition required for his service in His Majesty's Royal Navy.  This time he must land two spies on French soil, then return to pick them up with other passengers on the next night.   Of course plans go awry, and Fox must use all his courage and ingenuity to make things right.  His reward is to be left behind, undermanned, while the other ships in his fleet go into action.  Guarding four prize ships turns into disaster for Fox, however, and the book ends in a most pessimistic way.  Bulmer is in top writing form once again, having found his true subject matter.

 

From 1970 comes The Jester of Scar, Book 5 of the Dumarest series. 

Scar is a planet that has useful spores.  However, some of them are deadly to humans.  To be safe when outdoors in the wild a special filtered suit must be worn.  We are not certain as to why Dumarest is here, but the opening scene is a classic Tubb setting, as two bullies come looking for trouble in a hut where he is staying with a woman.  On an excursion into the wilderness in search of valuable spores, Dumarest hits the jackpot.  The only problem is the location, on the other side of a treacherous range of steep hills.  The main adventure has Dumarest and his partner trying to reach, and then to harvest the crop.  Even without interference from the bad guys, it is unlikely they would have survived the ordeal.  But there is also aid from the leader of another nearby planet, visiting Scar.  The plot is just thick enough, and the adventure story is suitable readable.  Of course Dumarest learns nothing further about Earth.  Until next time....

 

From 2005 comes the 2nd and final edition of Wonder's Child, Jack Williamson's autobiography.  For anyone interested in the history of American SF, this book is a must read.  For any writer finding it difficult to impossible to get published (I raise my hand here), the book offers lessons, and again hammers home how difficult a task that has always been.  Above all else, Jack loved SF, and he helped legitimize it through college courses, and training high school English teachers to use it in the classroom.  there is no doubt that the field would be very different today without Jack's hard work.  What a life!  A highly recommended read.

 

Legends From The End of Time by Michael Moorcock was published in 1975.  It contains four stories, two novelettes and two novellas, of events occurring at the end of time in the absence of Jherek Carnelian, when he is off on his own adventures.  The first story, Pale Rose, and the last, Ancient Shadows, are the best ones and well worth seeking out.  It does take a while to get used to the people who live at the end of time, but once readers are familiar with them and the way they live, there is a delightful world of fantasy here to discover.  Best of all, Jherek is not missed.

A collection of short stories by Malzberg nicely finished of the SF portion of the reading month.  The Man Who Loved The Midnight Lady is a collection of stories and essays published in 1980.  There are several gems, especially the brief afterwards by the author for the 2021 edition.  I always recommend Malzberg, though his short stories are not the place to begin.  The short series taking place in Writers' Heaven is noteworthy in this collection; fun and quite hilarious.  The essays, though now quite old, are still good to read.  Malzberg rails against the prejudice held by traditional literature towards SF writing, lamenting that not one major prize was awarded to a SF novel during the 1950s.  Despite some of the best writing of that decade being SF, it is certainly a bone of contention.

Towards the end of the book Malzberg announces his own "best book of the decade by American writers" awards, up through the 1970s.  I took him at his word, finding as many of his winners on Kindle as I could manage to, and downloading them.  Some were free or very inexpensive, while others were top dollar (for Kindle books).  But I have them all except for one, which seems very rare.  Here is the list of his "awards."

1920s--A tie.  The Great Gatsby; The Sun Also Rises.

1930s--The Low Company, by Daniel Fuchs.

1940s--The Naked and The Dead, by Norman Mailer.

1950s--Invisible Man, by Ralph Ellison (unavailable currently).

1960s--Revolutionary Road, by Richard Yates.

1970s--The Franchises, by Stanley Elkin.

So we begin the next phase of reading in February.  I began with The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald.  I actually read this in high school, in Gr. 12.  Our school (Lasalle Secondary, in Sudbury) actually had a college level English department.  Classes would meet as per usual twice per week; twice per week we would meet in half class size round table seminars; and on Friday all classes would meet in the little theatre for ensemble lessons.  These were often dramatic readings or student acted performances of scenes from plays or novels being studied.  However, in addition to all this, a second and advanced English class was available to certain hand picked students.  There were twelve of us in this class, mostly boys if you can believe it, and we had to read at least a book a week.  Sometimes we were given a novel Friday afternoon, and by Monday we had to have a 500 word review ready to read to the class, defending our position.  Such it was with The Great Gatsby.  I only wish I still had my review from back then.

Reading it again more than a few years later, I can truly say that it is a remarkably good novel.  The first chapter, in which the main characters are introduced (all except Gatsby, who is still only a shadow), is one of the best first chapters of any novel ever read by this reviewer.  The parties, the empty lifestyles, the social criticism, and the gradual appearance of Gatsby's true character (nothing less than a knight in shining armour) come as revelations in how to write a novel.  The tragedy itself is barely sketched out, and if you reading the novel Sunday morning in bed after a long night of Saturday night partying, it would be easy to glance over and even miss!  Such are the events of life, and thus the invention of the "double take."  Anyway, I loved the book, and highly recommend a reread, if it's been awhile.

Next came a physical book from the shelf, one of my few remaining.  The latest Anne Hillerman mystery is called Sacred Bridge, and is from 2021.  Her next book should be out by April.  Jim Chee, Navajo police sergeant, is on a short personal holiday away from his home territory of Shiprock, NM.  He finds a body (don't we all?) and he becomes involved in the mystery of who killed the male victim, and why.  Meanwhile back on the home front, Bernadette (Chee's wife and also a Navajo constable) is dealing with the bullying tactics of a local cannabis farm, going undercover to see exactly what is going on.  Not a bad entry, and we again get to visit the fabulous landscape of the four corners area (which we have never visited ourselves!).

Now came two books from my Delphi Classics series.  The first one was Coffee and Repartee, from 1893.  It is the second humourous book by J K Bangs I have read and enjoyed.  What began as a series of short stories was bundled into this novel, which became so popular that it became a series.  A group of male boarders meet each day for meals, and have discussions.  The only females present are the landlady and her maid.  The conversations are invariably philosophical and often quite hilarious.  The star of the show is The Idiot, who bandies words with a man of the collar, a school master, an imbiber (his ally), a physician, a bibliophile,and a few other straight characters.  Highly entertaining, and I am looking forward to other books in the series.

Things wrapped up with an early collection of stories by J. M. Barrie called Auld Licht Idylls, from 1888.  There are 12 stories related to the doings of a small, out of the way Scottish village called Thrums.  It is difficult for a modern reader to relate to the meagre and spiritless existence of these god-fearing folk, and though the stories are told towards the humourous side of things, it is still appalling to think that any such folk ever existed, outside of fairy tales.  The first story, "The Schoolhouse," introduces the narrator, the local school master, and is the strongest of the set.  Many of the others are funny and quite revealing, but ghastly just the same.  The stories to do with anything religious are the funniest and the most head shaking.  Almost unbelievable, but not quite.

Next blog is already underway, dealing with the February film festival here at the Homestead.  See you soon.

Mapman Mike