The Green Man pub will be closed next week for the annual floor sanding, paint touching-up, cleaning of the fireplace and chimney and general through cleaning. So this week, do enjoy a pint of the Kinrowan Estate Special Reserve Perry, pear cider which has been aged a full decade. he pear trees used for perry can live to a great age, and are productive for some two hundred and fifty years. Our perry is made possible in large part through the efforts of the Kinrowan Estate bees and Gus the Estate Head Gardener has their tale this outing.
Now let’s turn to what’s new on The Green Man Review in the past fortnight . . .
MacAllister leads off with a choice bit of horror: ‘Stephen King’s summer release, Finders Keepers picks up the saga of retired police detective (“Det Ret”) Bill Hodges, a story King began in his previous novel, Mr. Mercedes. Although it’s book two of a planned Bill Hodges Trilogy, Finders Keepers doesn’t suffer from any of the usual middle-of-a-trilogy weaknesses. The novel stands easily on its own, the story is compelling and complex, the characters are engaging, and the conflict had me holding my breath for the inevitable resolution.’
If King is the gold standard for horror writers, then a certain Oxford Don is definitely that for fantasy and Lisa has something really special for you who are devoted to Tolkien: ‘John D. Rateliff’s The History of the Hobbit is a handsome three-volume slip-cased set of hard covers. The first two volumes are the actual History of the Hobbit, in the form of Part One: Mr Baggins, and Part Two: Return to Bag-End. The third volume in the set is Tolkien’s published version of The Hobbit, with a new-to-American publishing 2007 preface from Christopher Tolkien and a text based on the 1995 edition incorporating Tolkien’s corrections and his original illustrations, some in color. The cover is the original cover based on Tolkien’s art as Tolkien intended it . . . and the end-papers feature Tolkien’s version of Thorin’s map.’
Gary reviews Eliza Carthy and Tim Eriksen’s Bottle. I’ve seen Eliza Carthy both solo and as part of Waterson-Carthy many times over the years. But the combination of her with Tiim Eriksen of the Americana band Codelia’s Dad is one I’ve not heard. Gary says of Bottle that ‘Eriksen’s craggy, in-your-face mid-range voice blends delightfully with Carthy’s earthy alto, and his eclectic range of skills with stringed instruments complements her drop-dead, inimitable fiddling.’
Donna reviews Zedashe’s Our Earth and Water. Zedashe hails from the Republic of Georgia, a region that we’ve amazingly not reviewed anything from before: ‘Founded twenty years ago, Zedashe is one of the first performing groups attempting to preserve and share the traditional music and dance of the Republic of Georgia. Our Earth and Water is their seventh album. It contains over an hour’s worth of music, comprising 26 tracks, many of them less than two minutes long. Most of the pieces are vocals, rendered in the distinctive three-part polyphonic harmonies for which this culture is known.’
Gary also reviews Terakaft, featuring musicians from the nomadic Tuareg people of Saharan North Africa: ‘Terakaft is a Tuareg “desert blues” band on the order of the better-known Tinariwen. That’s no coincidence, because rhythm guitarist Diara (Liya Ag Ablil) was one of Tinariwen’s founders. He’s now playing in Terakaft with another Tinariwen alumnus, his nephew, lead guitarist and singer Sanou Ag Ahmed. Their fifth album Alone is the second produced by British guitarist and producer Justin Adams, who has helped make this one a full-on rock album.’
We round out our reviews with a just published F/SF novel: ‘Fran Wilde’s Updraft is a debut novel from a writer with a strong record of short story publication. Set in a post apocalyptic culture where people spend their lives above the clouds in living towers of bone, depending on fliers using silk and leather wings for transportation, and governed by a secretive group, the Singers. Residents of the Towers, some of them, don carefully crafted wings of bone and silk and fly above and between the Towers.’
Now that colder weather is upon us, many of us are content to settle in with whatever we’re reading. May I suggest the The Complete Riverside Omnibus by Ellen Kushner and Delia Sherman? Vonnie reviewed the splendid audio version of Swordpoint, and we’ve also reviewed the separate novels as well as some of the shorter fiction. The Complete Riverside Omnibus includes not only the novels, but some of the shorter (and hard to find) stories such as Sherman’s ‘The Witch in The Woods’ and ‘Honored Guest’ by Kushner. Running to some nine hundred pages of excellent writing, it’s available online pretty much everywhere.
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