Our story this outing regards a certain Old God... It is oft times said by many that Herne was the favourite huntsman of Richard the Second. When he was mortally wounded while saving his master from a stag who was attacking Richard during a Royal Hunt, he was miraculously cured by a stranger, possibly Merlin himself, who tied the antlers of a dead stag to the dying man's brow. He claimed in blood payment Herne's hunting skills, which drove the huntsman insane so he fled to the forest, where he hung himself high upon a sacred oak. After that night, he returned at the Master of the spectral Wild Hunt to harry the Windsor game and their hunters as he saw fit.

Now read our story this edition to how Herne, or at least a version of him, came to be part of the Green Man story....

In the meantime, this edition has much for your consideration including three more Nightside audiobook reviews, a collection of rather tasty poetry, and music recordings ranging from a solo effort from a member of San Francisco-based women's vocal ensemble Kitka to a review that shows clearly why it's a problem that so many other similar sounding Celtic bands!

Herne.

His voice was like moss on the bark of an ancient tree... deep and smooth, making you expect velvet. And then you touch the bark and it is cold, cold and with a hardness like stone under it.

I first heard it in the small courtyard off the Long Hall, where sometimes people go to get out of the heat of the hall fires, and rest their ears from the storytelling. I'd been sent out with a tray and a bottle of one of the oldest whiskeys, and told to deliver it to whoever I found there. I didn't think too much of that -- you get orders like that all the time from Reynard -- so I went right out to the one table with people sitting at it.

He was a shadow darker than the shadows of the walls, sitting in the twilight; light from the windows gleamed on the glass in his hand, the metal at belt and wrist and knee, the gleam of his eyes -- like cold sparks struck from a flint. Calm radiated off him like cold from a stone, too. Coming near to him was like wading into heart-high water. You felt yourself slowed and surrounded.

That surprised me, that he breathed out such a vast, calming peace. If you've heard his train whooping through the nights, men and horns and hounds howling all alike under the moon, you'd never expect their Lord to be so... quiet. There's a solace in his company, and in that deep, sweet voice. At least when you catch him a quiet moment, drinking in the moonlight with a lady.

She was sitting on a cushion, her head against his knee, her pale hair flowing like starlight over them both. Their voices were low and easy as they spoke, with the rhythm of long years' intimacy between them; like the voices of your parents through the walls in the middle of the night – you hear just a moment of their conversation as you burrow into your pillow, inexplicable and remote and far, far older than anything you know -- but the sound means all is well in the world, and you go back to sleep comforted. That was what they sounded like.

I don't know who she was, though her face had every beauty you could ever imagine in a woman. I didn't know who he was, until he shifted into the light from the Hall window. Then, what I had thought were vine-shadows on the wall behind him were plain to see -- the great branching antlers, like amber and ivory and iron in the dim light. And I just stood there, staring like I'd never seen any of our older, stranger guests before, like a booby. But when the Lord of the Hunt is looking into your eyes, it's damned hard to remember you're only there to deliver his bar order and not to be judged eternally . . .

You'll get a better judgment, of course, if you do remember to give the Lord his order. I can testify to that, because when I finally got my wits together enough to put the tray down and display the label, he smiled and thanked me in that deep voice.

I don't know why anything ever flees from him, with that voice . . . I could have stood there, drowning in it, forever. Which I guess he knew, because he dismissed me very kindly, so I could remember I still had a body and walk away. But the singers in the Long Hall sounded like crows when I went through, after the dark voice in the dark courtyard.

They still do.

For a rave review, just listen to what April Gutierrez says 'ere in the featured book review -- 'Authors Hank Wagner and Christopher Golden collaborated previously on The Complete Stephen King Universe, a comprehensive, excellent study of King's writings. This time around they've enlisted the help of artist Stephen Bissette (Saga of the Swamp Thing) and have turned their attention to Neil Gaiman. The resulting effort is Prince of Stories, a thorough examination of Gaiman's body of work. Actually, thorough is an understatement; Wagner, Golden and Bissette have compiled 500 plus pages of information about Gaiman, his diverse output and its impact. Prince of Stories is both a treasure trove for fans and a bibliography extraordinaire, one that's quite current, up to and including 2008's Graveyard Book.' Much, much more detail is to be found in her Excellence in Writing Award winning review.

A written work is the source material for our featured music review as Kestrel Rath has a real treat, in the form of a look back at a grand concept album from the 1970s -- Bob Johnson and Peter Knight (both of Steeleye Span fame) collaborated on an album version (with music) of The King of Elfland's Daughter. 'It's a wonderfully allegorical story which, in (Lord) Dunsany's poetic language, practically begs to be set to music,' says our reviewer. 'It is also as dark and mysterious as any of our own contemporary fairy tale retellings and, as in many fairy tales, there is a lesson regarding the magic of language and being careful what you wish for.' There's more where that came from in the full Excellence in Writing Award review.

Donna Bird says 'The Dakota Cipher is the third novel in William Dietrich's action adventure series featuring the dashing ne'er-do-well Ethan Gage. I read and reviewed the first two novels in the series, Napoleon's Pyramids and The Rosetta Key. I'll be the first to admit that I found the first one disappointing and the second one even more so, despite my lowered expectations. I decided to try my luck with this one in part because I hoped that three would be the charm. Read on to see what I discovered... '

Richard Dansky looks at two novels by Christopher Golden, the first of which is Justice League -- Exterminators which he notes 'is not your typical superhero novel. There are no supervillians, no familiar faces to bash around amidst outbreaks of witty banter. Nobody's actually plotting to take over the world, rob a bank, or hang Batman and Robin upside down in a giant sno-cone maker. One of the most important characters in the book makes no bones about his gut feeling that the whole code names 'n' capes approach to life is a moderately ridiculous one.'

The second Golden novel is one he co-wrote with Tom Lebbon and it is decidedly of an adult nature -- 'Readers who come to The Map of Moments looking for something similar to Mind the Gap are in for a rude shock. Where the first novel of the Hidden Cities was essentially YA, The Map of Moments is steeped in sex and death, a whirlwind ride through centuries of secret history marked by murder, cannibalism, and lust.'

Quick, wake up Denise Dutton as the A. Lee Martinez novel she just read was a real snoozer -- 'Monsters! Lots of 'em! Running amok! And two humans that have to save the universe. Sounds pretty intriguing, right? Unfortunately, Monster is a story with no plot. There's a definite sense of time passing, and the tale moving forward. But there's never a real reason why, none that would be interesting enough to keep things focused. That leaves the novel feeling like a good idea that never quite got off the ground.'

Once upon a time, you couldn't have gotten our Editor, Cat Eldridge, to even give an audiobook the faintest of considerations as something he think of as a form of worthy entertainment. But then Audible released all of Simon R. Green's Nightside novels with Marc Vietor narrating all of them, and he's very ecstatically worked his way through all but the first three with the first, Something from The Nightside is now on his iPod for listening to ion his morning stroll. This edition, he reviews the current final three in the series -- Hell to Pay, The Unnatural Inquirer, and Just Another Judgment Day as befits a series he says has 'great stories, terrific narration, appropriately used music, and crack production'.

Jon Bream's Whole Lotta Led Zeppelin -- The Illustrated History of the Heaviest Band of All Time got a look-see by rock and roll chick Deborah Grabien -- 'Whenever I'm handed anything on the subject of Led Zeppelin, I check the bibliography for the presence of two particular names, and one particular factoid. If the first name's there, I'll open the book and start reading; if the factoid (which attaches to that first name) is present and correct, I'm already down the road with the book under my arm. If the second name's ever there, I'll probably mist up, and the author will have made a friend for life. So, how did this stack up? One out of three.' Read her Excellence in Writing Award-winning review to see what rocked and what sucked thisaway.

Listen up as April Gutierrez tells us about a great collection -- 'The Adventures of Langdon St. Ives collects all -- at the time -- of James Blaylock's rollicking steampunky adventures of Victorian dilettante Langdon St. Ives, inventor and dabbler extraordinaire. Comrades St. Ives, his man Hasbro, Bill Kraken (a few cards shy of a full deck, but eager to please) and youthful Jack Owlesby, along with arch-nemesis Ignacio Narbondo blaze their way through four short stories and two novels, a series of rip-roaring adventures involving space and time travel, mysterious machines and what can only be deemed as mad science.' Her review also looks at The Ebb Tide, another Langdon St. Ives adventure.

A James Morrow novel was so good that this reviewer now wants to read everything else he has written -- 'In Shambling Towards Hiroshima, Morrow has delivered a stinging indictment against Truman's actions to end World War II, while leavening that horror with an homage to the joy of schlocky monster movies. (Corpuscula, Gorgantis and Kha-Ton-Ra indeed!) No mean feat, and one he should be lauded for.' Read her glowing review thisaway.

April notes 'For the first time, Moore's early work on Saga of the Swamp Thing -- the first eight issues -- has been released in hardback format. This edition includes issue 20, which has not previously been available outside the original single issue. Original creator Len Wein provides the introduction, while author Ramsey Campbell add a foreword.' That's good, right? Well, sort of. Read her review to see where DC crapped out on this publication.

She was far less than ecstatic about another Vertigo series -- 'Steven T. Seagle's House of Secrets -- Foundation of which say says 'the most -- make that only -- interesting element of House of Secrets is the house itself. Little is known about the house and its secrets. How did it come to exist? How did the members of the Juris come to inhabit the house? And how did they become responsible for trying individuals for their secrets? What happened to the last Witness (a defendant tells Rain she should ask the Juris about this)?' Everything else including the characters pretty much sucked. Read why 'ere.

Another graphically inclined affair did better with her -- 'MySpace -- Dark Horse Presents Volume 2 may not be consistent in quality from cover to cover, but there's no doubt it's an excellent place to find comic curiosities by established artists/authors and gems by those who may be lesser known. It'll definitely be interesting to see where the collections go from here.'

Kevin Courrier's Artificial Paradise -- the Dark Side of the Beatles' Utopian Dream caused Rylander editor David Kidney to exclaim -- 'There's a dark side to the Beatles? I can't believe it. Their music defined a generation. Well, my generation at least. We came running inside to see them in February for their first appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show. We couldn't wait to get their next record, big 12' slabs of vinyl wrapped in heavy cardboard, so we could stack them onto our record changers and hear Rubber Soul in between the two discs of Bob Dylan's Blonde on Blonde. . . .' Well, you get the idea. Read the rest of his nostalgia filled, Excellence in Writing Award-winning, review 'ere.

Maria Tatar, Enchanted Hunters -- The Power of Stories in Childhood is a work that Kestrell Rath says 'should be of interest to those who intend on writing in the genres of children's books, fairy tales (be they for children or adults), and the literature of the fantastic.' Why this so is revealed in her detailed review.

The man in the Pub with large single malt whiskey is who is looking annoyed over a work that really sucked is Robert M. Tilendis as he really expected Pigeons from Hell, an adaptation by Joe R. Lansdale of a story by Robert E. Howard, to be better. much better, than it was. Now why this was so is something you could ask him yourself but I personally never bother a writer when he's drinking so could read his review instead thisaway.

Rachel Pollack's poetry collection re-affirmed Robert's faith in there being really good reading out there -- 'Fortune's Lover is the second title under Midsummer Night's Press' 'Fabula Rasa' imprint (the first was Lawrence Schimel's Fairy Tales for Writers). With this release, the press is on the way to establishing a very high bar.'

Alex Vernon's On Tarzan was says Robert rather disappointing as you can see from his summation -- 'I could, if I had nothing else to do with my time, parse this book to death. It wouldn't be hard, it would just require a fair amount of grunt work. I'm not going to bother. Vernon's out, of course, is that he never laid claim to any substance. Take that as you will.' Ouch, that hurts!

As February drew to a close, and winter gave way to spring, David Kidney headed out in to Ontario with music on his mind, to spend an evening in the company of Canadian singer-songwriter, Ian Thomas. It would seem that David witnessed an enjoyable evenings entertainment -- 'Ian Thomas walked onto the main stage of the River Run Centre and announced, 'I'm not on any performance enhancing drugs tonight!' than as an aside he added, 'It might be to the detriment of the show!' The audience was all set to love him, and this casual, amusing intro was a perfect ice breaker... When he's in your neighborhood give him a listen. A complete entertainment experience!' David's full account can be read just here!

Back in the cold of January, Christopher White and Barb Truex braved the incoming snow to journey to Portland's One Longfellow Square -- 'The headliner was The Low Anthem, a trio from Providence, with a local quintet, Subject Bias, opening. I surmise that the audience was a typical one for the venue rather than the core audience for either of the bands, both of which are, I would presume, better known by a younger set . . . If The Low Anthem share with Subject Bias a link to Nick Drake and certain aspects of Dylan's approach, they add Tom Waits, The Band other sides of Dylan to the mix. The Low Anthem has been around for a few years longer and have an extensive touring history, which gave their set a satisfying sense of ease befitting their headliner status'. The full review of this evening is here!

'Black Moses is a dandy 'make-out' album if you remember what that used to be,' says music editor David Kidney, in his omnibus review of some Isaac Hayes re-releases from Stax. 'Orchestral grooves with a richness of strings and horns, a strong rhythm section pulsing a solid sexy beat, and Hayes's deep voice singing the lyrics of love.' He has lots more to say in his review.

'I must confess I was slightly disappointed by this album, as I had heard on the grapevine a lot of good reports about the band's appearances at various festivals and concert halls,' says Peter Massey of Celtish's 2008 album Centrifusion. 'This leads me to thinking they are probably better live than on this their third album.' Not one to mince words is our Peter. Read his review to find out how he came to his conclusion.

'My old grandmother used to say Norfolk folk have got webbed feet,' Peter continues, by way of introduction to his review of Tony Hall's CD, One Man Hand. Who's Tony Hall, and does he have webbed feet? you ask. 'Tony Hall is a (not very well known) cartoonist who is quite adept at playing the Hohner Melodeon,' he notes. Well, that clarifies things a bit more. To get the full story, though, you'll need to peruse Peter's review.

Poor Man's Heaven, a 2008 recording by Seth Lakeman, eventually grew on Peter, or so he says. 'I had to play the album a few times to get into it,' he goes on. 'I only received a promo copy of the album. Simply a cardboard sleeve and the CD. I am still not sure if, or what, the theme is for the album due to the absences of sleeve notes. However, I have to say I liked the album. It is nice and bright and breezy, for the want of a better word, and it certainly grows on you.' What's it sound like, though? Peter will tell you here.

Gary Whitehouse feels he doesn't do justice to Blind Pilot's 2008 release, 3 Rounds and a Sound. 'Based in bicycle-crazy Portland, Oregon, Israel Nebeker (guitar, vocals) and Ryan Dobrowski (drums) took their act on the road with just their bikes, their instruments in light trailers behind them,' Gary reports. 'From Vancouver, B.C., to San Francisco, they camped out, pedaled and played clubs and parks and campgrounds, then went back to Portland to cut their album.' Read his review to see what else he has to say.

Gary also seems to like what he hears from another Portland band, Celilo, whose recent release Bending Mirrors, Gary says, is ' . . . a low-key journey through Portland's mostly gray moods with the people who inhabit its rainy streets and neighborhoods. The music is deceptively quiet and understated, with only occasional psychedelic electric guitar solos slashing through the muted tones of acoustic guitars, David Pulliam's keyboards and Tucker Jackson's pedal steel. But there is plenty of drama and occasional violence, both psychic and physical, in the lyrics.' Sound intriguing? He has more in this review.

The Handsome Family's Brett and Rennie Sparks are celebrating 20 years of marriage with their 2009 release Honey Moon. Gary says even though this album is supposed to be filled with love songs in honor of that anniversary, it's not much different than their previous seven albums, except fewer people die. '... in the minutely observed poetry of Rennie's lyrics and the mock-portentous delivery of Brett's marvelous bass-baritone, The Handsome Family's songs are odes of love to the human condition in all its manifestations, from dark to whimsical,' Gary notes. See what else he thinks of all this mushy stuff in his Excellence in Writing Award review here.

Finally, Gary says, Mariana Sadovska's album, 'Borderland is not the kind of album you'd put on and listen to for rest or recreation, but it's an impressive demonstration of singing and musicianship. I suspect on the evidence of this recording that Sadovska is a riveting performer.' Read more about her album of Ukrainian-based songs in his review.

We should remind you about our special editions which are our way of looking at specific writers and other subjects worthy of exploring in-depth. Of course, we've done several editions on master storyteller Peter S. Beagle which you can find thisaway and over 'ere.