Interview: FRANK SCHILDINER

Today’s interview is with author Frank Schildiner. Frank’s work has been published by Belanger Books, Black Coat Press, Meteor House Press, and others. He writes in multiple genres, including historical fiction, horror, and adventure.

Hi, Frank! Thanks for taking a few moments to chat with me.

My pleasure, brother, it’s been way too long. I hope you’ve been well!

As well as well can be! Your current Kickstarter project (through the wonderful Belanger Books) is for Let Loose the Falcon. The Kickstarter ends on July 20th, so let’s start there. Tell us a bit about the book.

This is a book that is very important to my heart. I started it when my late wife Gail was in the hospital. I started it as a way of dealing with how rough that time was for me and hiding how bad I felt from her.

The story is one set in 1751 about a Royal Navy Post Captain named Henry Falconer aka the Falcon. He’s an excellent sailor and a very dangerous fighter with weapons and hands. His unwillingness to follow foolish orders has him forced into intelligence work. He picks up a few fellow spies along the way as he tries to uncover a major danger for the king.

What inspired you to write a nautical novel set in the late 1700s, and what influenced the character of Post Captain Henry Falconer?

I love Royal Navy fiction, having become a fan of Patrick O’Brian, Dewey Lambdin, Julian Stockwin, Alexander Kent, and C.S. Forester over the years. I also had an interest in the Georgian era, especially the real Hellfire Club under Sir Francis Dashwood and the 4th Earl of Sandwich. They were an infamous bunch whose stories were both bizarre and exaggerated. It all came together that way and I had fun writing it.

Knowing you, this is intended to be the start of a new series. Have you started on a sequel, and can you tell us anything about it?

The second book is also completed and involves 2 cults of killers whose styles are truly nuts, even for me. I also have an idea for the 3rd one involving a pirate treasure and a few ideas for the 4th and 5th. So yeah, definitely a unique series and maybe one I try and write for many years to come.

Your previous novel for Belanger Books, Caesar Now Be Still was also a historical novel but set in the late 1800s in New York City, an era I know you also have a passion for. Will there be more books featuring Detective Wilson Hargreave?

Yes, I do plan on doing more with him and old New York. I have an idea about a team of burglars who are tormenting the wealthy. There’s also a group of gangsters hoping they can catch them for…well…reasons…

I’d be interested to hear about your writing process. Are you a plotter, a “pantser,” somewhere in between? Do you have a specific daily word-count goal?

I am the living embodiment of a pantser. I sometime start work on something and switch to something else that my evil muse wants written. I have no word count goal but usually do between 1500-2000 a day. I have been known to exceed it when I get going or less when I suddenly go dry. It’s weird.

I’d also be interested in hearing about any literary or filmic influences you haven’t mentioned yet.

Oh my, so many.

 Literary: Jack London, Dennis Wheatley, Frank Herbert, Philip Jose Farmer, Louis Cha, Eiji Yoshikawa, Paul Feval, A.C. Doyle, Donald Westlake, Joe Lansdale…the list could keep going…

Film: Yojimbo, the Zatoichi series, Le Samourai, The One-Armed Swordsman, Brave Archer 1-3, Berserk, Alexander Nevsky, Universal and Hammer Horror films, Memories of Murder, The Dollars Trilogy, a few dozen Shaw Bros. Films with Philip Kwok, Lo Mang, and Lu Feng, The Ringu series, The 3 Mothers Trilogy, Devilman Crybaby…

I watch movies and read books constantly, so the list is nearly endless.

Finally, what’s on the horizon after Let Loose the Falcon?

I finished the 2nd book in the series, and I’m almost finished with a short story in the series called “The Dancing Falcon”. I’m writing the 3rd book in the Atlantis trilogy as well as a samurai era slow building cosmic horror series. After they’re done, I’ll do either a 3rd Falcon, a 2nd Hargreaves, or start a Fantomas novel. There’s also some non-fiction I might do, so I’ll keep busy.

The Kickstarter for Let Loose the Falcon ENDS TODAY (as of when I’m posting this). You can find Frank’s Ceasar Now Be Still and other titles published by Belanger Books on their website. The Atlantis series Frank mentioned, along with his Frankenstein and Napoleon’s Vampire Hunters series can be found on the website for Black Coat Press.

Sunday Shorts: The Shivers

TITLE: The Shivers

AUTHORS: various

194 pages, Amazon Originals, (e-book and audiobook)

MY RATING: 4 stars out of 5

REVIEW: The five short stories in Amazon’s The Shivers collection all capably fulfill the promise of the collection’s title: they all made me shiver at least once, and most more than that. While they all have some supernatural element (some slowly revealed, some blatant from the start, and mostly all in the form of ghostly presences of some kind), they are mostly absent of jump scares and gore. They are more on the suspenseful side of horror, an interesting blend of the psychological and the supernatural. All of the stories have a grounding in the everyday that is slowly (or, as slowly as one can in a short story) infused with dread and then outright horror.

In Joe Hill’s “Jackknife,” a disgraced college professor at loose ends slowly realizes there is something not right about the tree from which he recently removed a rusted old jackknife. In Stephen Graham Jones’ “The Indigo Room,” a dramatic office presentation turns dark, eerie, and prophetic. Grady Hendrix’s “The Blanks” takes place in an almost too idyllic island summer community whose secrets are hinted at before being revealed, while Catriona Ward’s “Day and Night in Misery” tweaks the haunted hotel room trope in a most moving way. The collection concludes with “Letter Slot” by Owen King, focused on a teen boy living in poverty on the same road as an abandoned McMansion to which he is inexorably drawn.

While I’ve read stories or novels by Joe Hill, Owen King, Stephen Graham Jones, and Grady Hendrix (but only one short story in Hendrix’s case), this was my first exposure to Catriona Ward’s work, and her story (like the others) definitely made me want to read more (readers, feel free to recommend what Ward book I should read next!). All five authors understood the assignment here and delivered on it. Hill’s story is probably the most outright horror/least suspenseful. Jones’s is absolutely the most surreal and otherworldly. Hendrix’s is the creepiest. Ward’s and King’s tie for the title of “most tugged at my heart.” I enjoyed all five stories and can’t stress enough how much each creeped me out.

For four of these stories, the sense of dread works so well because the authors make you care about the main characters through personal moments or traits or reminiscences that resonate. Suspense is more suspenseful, horror is more horrific, when you care about the characters who are in danger. I found the main character of the Hill story to be thoroughly unlikeable and thus less sympathetic but found the other protagonists to be relatable. Interestingly, three of those main characters are mothers of young children who are in some sort of danger, while the fourth is a teenage boy with a sick mother (a natural reversal of the caregiver/cared-for roles).

Fair warning for those who might need it: both the Ward and Hendrix stories involve child death. Both happen “off screen” but are recounted in enough detail that it may upset some people.

I received an advance electronic reading copy of this book for free via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. The Shivers is available now in e-book and audiobook format only from Amazon, and can be purchased as individual titles or as a bundle.

I love short fiction in all its forms: from novellas to novelettes, short stories, flash fiction, and drabbles. Sunday Shorts is the feature where I get to blog about it.

Book Review: THE BLACK FIRE CONCERTO

TITLE: The Black Fire Concerto

AUTHOR: Mike Allen

294 pages, Ruadán Books, ISBN 9798991258753 (paperback, e-book, audio)

MY RATING: 5 stars out of 5

Mike Allen’s The Black Fire Concerto is one of those novels that lives in the liminal space between genres: it is part body horror, part dark fantasy, part folk horror, with a bit of possible post-Apocalyptic Earth thrown in, along with, at unexpected moments, the kind of whimsy you’d expect from a Disney late 60s-early 70s animated movie with voice work by Phil Harris (you know the movies I mean. You’re probably singing a song from at least one of them right now…)

Let me explain.

The Black Fire Concerto is the story of Erzelle, a girl conscripted into service by the very people who murdered her family to play her harp for rich patrons who frequent the ghoul-infested riverboat where Erzelle lives and serves. Her life is a never-ending cycle of playing and waiting to be murdered herself. Until the arrival of Olyssa, another musician, changes everything and leads Erzelle into Olyssa’s quest to find her missing sister Lilla.

From the start, the author’s expertise with body horror is on full display: the ghouls glimpsed in the opening chapter are grisly enough, but they’re just the start of an increasingly disturbing sequence of creatures that are less and less human, creatures made out of body parts from actual humans (and other living, or formerly living, things as well). And then there are the mysterious Grey Ones, who call to mind classic images of faceless harbingers of death like the Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come in Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, if the Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come spent all of his time harvesting bones from interred dead bodies. When I say that Mike Allen’s work often makes me physically uncomfortable, I am not exaggerating. (See my reviews of his short story collections Aftermath of an Industrial Accident and Slow Burn and his novella “The Comforter” in the anthology A Sinister Quartet).

The dark fantasy/folk horror comes into play with the setting, which at least after the opening scenes, is mostly overgrown forests with hidden towns of unusual residents and stark mountains with endless tunnel systems in which any manner of horror may lurk. And both are equally dangerous. The landscapes Erzelle and Olyssa traverse are familiar in their overwhelming vastness and claustrophobic tightness and yet feel alien and unfamiliar at the same time. The sense of familiarity is heightened by the hints, through place names, that this world might actually be our own Earth after a science/magic apocalypse altered it and the people in it.

So where does the Disney-like whimsy come in? The character of Reneer and his fellow vulpines: fox-humans. Reneer is a trickster, debonair, charmingly daring, and brings a bit of lightness and playfulness to most of the scenes he’s in (he is, really, a scene-stealer and a redhead and yes, if you know me, you know I want to marry him). Braeca is his female childhood best friend whose quieter personality nicely balances Renier’s. I know it sounds like this would disrupt the feel of the novel, but it really doesn’t; it enhances the surreal, of-this-world-but-not, tone that permeates the book from start to finish. (And apologies to the author, but I cannot help reading Reneer and Braeca’s dialogue in the voices of Brian Bedford and Monica Evans. If you know, you know.)

Reneer is a scene-stealer, but not overwhelmingly so. Erzelle and Olyssa are absolutely the heart and focus of this novel, two strong female protagonists with a wonderful, complex, and not-perfect teacher/mentor relationship. Through them, Allen delves into what happens when we’re granted power we’re untrained to wield, when a mentor lets us down, when sibling rivalry turns ugly, when generational trauma rears its ugly head, and when a choice must be made and all of the available options are bad. The antagonists they encounter run the gamut from petty controlling bureaucrats to body-horror monstrosities to magic-wielders with damaged psyches, and the women are incredibly creative with the way they utilize their music-based magic to overcome all of these obstacles (with quite a few close calls along the way).

I loved this book, and I’m really hoping there’s more to come in this world. I do not think that Erzelle, Olyssa, Reneer, and Braeca’s stories are over just yet.

For those in the New York City area, Mike Allen will be discussing The Black Fire Concerto at Kew & Willow Books this Saturday, July 12th, at 7:00 pm, in conversation with author C.S.E. Cooney (who also happens to be the audiobook narrator). And I will be there as well, strictly as an audience participant.

I received an advance reading pdf of this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. I am way behind on posting reviews of ARCs I’ve read; The Black Fire Concerto was released on April 22, 2025.

Interview: JIM BEARD

I have my first new publishing credit in quite a few years in Jack of All Comics!, an anthology of essays about Jack “King” Kirby’s work for both Marvel and DC Comics in the 1960s-70s. My essay is about Kirby’s work on the woefully short-lived DC ‘70s series The Sandman. Rather than just blog about having a new book out, I thought I’d chat with the book’s editor/publisher Jim Beard about how it all came together.

IMAGE: Jack Kirby’s head and arms bursting out of an art table, from which an ink bottle is falling. He’s holding a paint brush in one hand, a lead pencil in the other, and the flame from his cigar looks like the Human Torch. He is surrounded by art pages. Cover art by Ron Hill.

First, a little about Jim:

Jim Beard is a writer, editor, and publisher of adventure fiction and pop-culture non-fiction. He is the co-founder of Flinch Books and the founder of Becky Books (which published Jack of All Comics!). His licensed works include Star Wars and Ghostbusters comics, a Spider-Man novel, and Green Hornet and Kolchak the Night-Stalker novellas. Jim’s original fiction creations include the Edwardian ghost-hunter Sgt. Janus and the 1970s globetrotters D.C. Jones and Adventure Command International. He lives in Northwest Ohio with absolutely no pets whatsoever.

Hi Jim! First of all, thank you for inviting me to be a part of Jack of All Comics!. It's both a pleasure and an honor to be a part of not just a book about Jack Kirby, but also a book in a really wonderful series of books on "Comic Book Culture." Can you talk first a little bit about the inspiration for the series?

Pleasure’s all mine. Always a good feeling to give a struggling young writer a chance at the big time 😉

“Comic Book Culture” is inspired by my own comic interests primarily, but also by the drive to inspire readers to pick up each volume. That means going places they might not expect, while at the same time appealing to their own interests and passions within the medium.

What inspired you to make this latest volume about Jack Kirby, and in particular his 1960s-1970s work at both DC and Marvel?

A Jack Kirby book needs no other inspiration beyond “Jack Kirby.” The length, width, and breadth of the King’s work is banquet enough for a thousand-thousand books, and I had always wanted to add my own to that stack. The key, as with all my non-fiction books, was to “do it my way,” i.e. come up with something that hasn’t already been said and done a million times over—and with Jack, that ain’t exactly easy, given that’s he’s arguably the most discussed comic book creator ever.

Part of that encompasses just what you say: the parameters of 1961-1978. It always helps me to set a framework down to fill up with thoughts about whatever subject I’m addressing, and the three eras of Jack’s work during that timespan worked perfectly for what I wanted to do, which was have a different writer talk about each one of the series Jack worked on at Marvel and DC during those years.

When putting together a book of essays like this, how do you as an editor decide which writers get which assignments?

Sometimes it’s the easiest thing in the world. Writers say, “Ooh! I want THAT!” and you know you’re gonna get magic. Other times, it’s the most challenging thing because you always have the essays no one really wants to write…but I’ve been lucky because when I’ve thrown down a gauntlet to a writer to challenge themselves on one of those topics, they always find they’re the right person for the job. And then you still get magic.

In particular with this book, was there anyone you immediately thought, “That person HAS to write about THIS series”? Conversely, was there anyone whose interest in writing about a particular series took you by surprise?

A few. Cliff Biggers had to write about Fantastic Four. Van Allen Plexico had to write about The Avengers. That said, many of the other topics just fell into place and in the end, nearly everybody got their first choices. This book in particular was so great in that way for me. It was almost an editor’s dream. The excitement was high across the board.

I surprised myself by being the exact right guy to talk about First Issue Special 😉

Your own essay in the book is about Kirby’s issues of DC’s First Issue Special series, and I won’t spoil here which of his FIS issues was your favorite. But what enquiring minds really want to know is: what is YOUR favorite Kirby series of all time, and why?

Hate to be so mundane, but it has to be the obvious choice: Fantastic Four. Stan and Jack just rocked it out on that one, and over a huge amount of time and issues. It still stands as one of the greatest achievements of a creative duo in comic books to this day. And there’s two reasons why: Stan and Jack. Say what you will, and many of you have, but that was some kind of perfection going on there.

Finally (for now, at least), is there anything upcoming from either Becky Books or Flinch! Books (which you co-run with John C. Bruening) that you’d like people to know about?

It’s Flinch Books’ tenth anniversary this year and we’re releasing the fourth volumes in our signature series, me with Sgt. Janus and John with The Midnight Guardian. Frankly, I’m more excited to return to Union City than Mount Airy….

Both settings, and both characters, are great, in this interviewer’s not-so-humble opinion! I’m looking forward to chatting with you more about Sgt. Janus in August, and with John when the new Midnight Guardian book bows in the fall. Meantime, Thanks again Jim!

Book Review: SAINT DEATH'S HERALD

TITLE: Saint Death’s Herald (Book Two of the Saint Death Trilogy)

AUTHOR: C.S.E. Cooney

430 pages, Solaris Books, ISBN 9781837864492 (paperback, e-book, audiobook)

MY RATING: 5 stars out of 5

C.S.E. Cooney’s Saint Death’s Herald, the sequel to her 2023 World Fantasy Award winning novel Saint Death’s Daughter, is an action-packed, fast-paced, often dark but always hopeful, fantasy adventure. Despite the difference in focus from its predecessor (Saint Death’s Daughter is more coming-of-age novel than adventure story, but no less exciting for that), the tone of the first book carries over. No matter the pace of the story, Cooney’s prose is always lushly gorgeous, her wordplay intricate yet accessible, poetic phrases side by side with everyday speech. Cooney is one of those writers who make me want to linger over individual sentences, to reread aloud, to feel the words physically and emotionally. Even her character names are joys to speak aloud (Cracchen Skrathmandan! Ynyssyll Brackenwild! Tanaliin idden Fa’nim’wai! Duantri! Makkovian! Sacred Datura Stones!). Cooney makes me laugh, cry, and gasp in equal measure. Saint Death’s Herald had me doing all of those. Repeatedly.

This is a story of possession and possessiveness, of control and of giving up control (willingly and unwillingly), of understanding history (both the personal and the societal) and breaking the cycles of trauma that are caused by both. It starts with a man possessed by a ghost being run to ruin, the ghost intentionally heedless of the cost inflicted on the still-living man he’s taken over. And throughout the book, Cooney revisits this concept of the powerful ignoring the cost to the powerless. We see it at the personal level (with the man and the ghost), we see it at a governmental level (in the past history of Skakmaht). And we also see what it costs someone like Miscellaneous Stones, our main character, to care enough to try to make a change.

Miscellaneous Stones, as established in Saint Death’s Daughter, is the latest in a lengthy line of necromancers who have served the rulers of Liriat for generations. But Lanie is also unlike her familial predecessors, in that she is allergic to violence; she literally cannot cause injury without experiencing it herself. This makes her mission (tracking down the ghost of her genocidal great-grandfather Radamanthes Stones and preventing him from further genocide) all the harder. Watching the creative (and sometimes whimsical) ways she finds to defend herself is one of the great joys of the book, along with how she willingly puts herself in harm’s way to do battle when she absolutely must, regardless of the cost. Lanie, as her friends call her, has come a long way since the start of the first book in understanding just how far she can push herself in these situations as well as how far she’s willing to go to protect others.

I would be remiss if I did not mention just how chock-full this book is of representation: queer characters from across the spectrum abound, as do characters with pretty much every skin tone imaginable. Cooney’s fantasy world, Ayth, which appears not just in these two books but in almost everything she’s written (see: my reviews of Dark Breakers; Desdemona and the Deep; The Twice-Drowned Saint, and more), is one of the most diverse and enjoyable fantasy worlds I’ve ever been immersed in. (I would also be remiss if I did not mention that I have an especial fictional character crush on the aforementioned Makkovian. My Catastrophic Attraction Complex to redheads strikes again!)

Final thoughts: Saint Death’s Herald is certainly a complete novel unto itself. You could jump right in without having read Saint Death’s Daughter and you’d be able to follow along pretty easily. But reading the books in order will absolutely enhance your understanding of not just Lanie, Cracchen, Grandpa Rad, and Duantri, but also Makkovian, Datu, and a host of other characters who were vital to book one but play a more supporting role in book two. And here’s hoping we don’t have to wait too long for the final book in the trilogy (Please, Solaris, make it happen!).

NOTE: C.S.E. Cooney will be appearing at Kew & Willow Books on July 12th, to discuss the Saint Death’s books, and other interesting topics, in conversation with author Mike Allen. I’ll be there as well!

I received an electronic advance reading copy of this book for free from the publisher via NetGalley well before publication date in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. The book released in April 2025.

Theatre Thursday: Passengers

This past weekend, we paid our first visit to the Perelman Performing Arts Center in New York City, down by the World Trade Center, to see Passengers by the 7 Fingers. It was an incredible experience.

Description: My hand, holding the program for Passengers, in front of the main section of seating in front of the stage

Written, directed, and choreographed by Shana Carroll, Passengers is an intriguing mix of dance, gymnastics, silkwork, trapeze, juggling, polework, acrobatics, singing, vocalization, and spoken word – truly the “multidisciplinary” show it is advertised to be. The performers (at our performance: Sereno Aguilar Izzo, Eduardo De Azevedo Grillo, Kaisha Dessalines-Wright, Marie-Christine Fournier, Marco Ingaramo, Anna Kitchtchenko, Maude Parent, Michael Patterson, and Will Underwood) were all absolutely fantastic; it would be almost impossible to single any one of them out for praise over the others. They are truly an ensemble, and it appears from looking at the Perelman PAC website that the show might change subtly depending on which members of the company are in a particular performance (for instance, the website includes a photo of a cast member doing high-wire balancing, which was not in the performance we saw).

The loose concept of the show is that the unnamed characters (and each cast member plays multiple roles if I interpreted things correctly) are all passengers on a train. Throughout the performance, they bond, fall in love, separate and reunite (romantically and platonically); they experience the highs and lows of all kinds of relationships. Their emotions run from the comic to the heart-breaking, and most of it is expressed via movement and body language only. There are a couple of compelling monologues and songs and one very funny dialogue about the nature of time travel which serve as breathers from the more physical aspects of the show (even the most talented dancers, gymnasts and acrobats need a break!), but the most poignant moments come through the physical movements. The silkwork and trapeze work were particularly stunning and emotional; the juggling was hysterically funny; the contortionist aspect was mind-boggling, and the polework was mouth-droppingly exhilarating.

The 7 Fingers are billed as “Montréal’s acclaimed contemporary physical theater group” and they absolutely lived up to that acclaim.

Passengers runs at the Perelman Performing Arts Center at 251 Fulton Street in Lower Manhattan through June 29th, 2025, only. I highly recommend seeing it before it closes if you’re in the NYC area. The 7 Fingers website indicates the show will also play in Boston for the month of September.

Description: the lobby marquee for Passengers (a photo of Grand Central Station’s main departures board) behind piles of luggage, a clock, and an empty bench.

I’ve always loved live theater, and in the past couple of years I’ve been making a stronger effort to see more of it. Theater Thursday is a new occasional series where I talk about live theater, both shows I’ve seen recently and shows I’ve loved in the past.

Theatre Thursday: Sondheim's Old Friends

Revues of the music of Stephen Sondheim are not exactly a rare thing. We’ve had Side by Side by Sondheim and Marry Me A Little (both of which younger Me wore out the vinyl/CDs of); Putting It Together (ditto, plus endless rewatches of the filmed version with Carol Burnett, George Hearn, Bronson Pinchot, John Barrowman and Ruthie Henshall), Sondheim: A Celebration at Carnegie Hall (okay, this was a one-night thing, but I wore out the CD and the DVD!) and Sondheim on Sondheim (back to “wore out the CD”) – none of which I ever saw on stage.

So as soon as I saw posts online about Sondheim’s Old Friends opening in London, I knew that if it came to Broadway, I’d need to see it; especially if certain members of the London cast transferred. Which they did.

Unlike Marry Me A Little and Putting It Together (each of which has a loose plot and unnamed characters, pulling Sondheim classics and cut/forgotten numbers into a new storyline) but like Side by Side by Sondheim and Sondheim on Sondheim, Sondheim’s Old Friends is a true revue: very little talking except at the very beginning and end, no new storyline, just song after amazing song after brilliant song. Two-and-a-half hours of songs, with only pauses long enough for the audience to applaud (and applaud we did. Loudly.). And several of those songs brought down the house.

The ensemble is led, just as it was in London, by the iconic duo of Bernadette Peters and Lea Salonga. I’ve seen Bernadette several times before and she never disappoints. This was my first time seeing Lea live on stage, and she was as phenomenal as I’ve heard she is. They are backed up by an ensemble of 17, including Beth Leavel, Joanna Riding, Jeremy Secomb (who was out the night we saw the show), Kyle Selig, Bonnie Langford (who I was overjoyed was continuing on from the London cast, as I’ve always wanted to see her on stage), and Gavin Lee (who I last saw as Squidward in The SpongeBob Musical and who is always fun to watch).

Bernadette mentions at the start that the song selection is drawn heavily from shows Cameron Macintosh (who produced this revue) had a hand in. Thus, the show has solid sequences showcasing Into the Woods, Sweeney Todd, West Side Story, and Follies, with a generous helping of Company interspersed, along with bits of Gypsy, Passion, and A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Forum. Unlike earlier revues, the show is light on Sondheim’s lesser-known material (nothing from Saturday Night or the Frogs, which usually show up in these revues, for instance) with the exception of “Live Alone and Like It” (performed jauntily by Jason Pennycooke), “The Boy From…” (performed hysterically by Kate Jennings Grant), and a bit of “Bounce” (in a sort-of-medley with “I Know Things Now,” performed with tongue planted firmly in cheek by Bernadette). Past Sondheim revues have been known for weird mashups that work well (I’m thinking of Dorothy Loudon’s “Losing My Mind/You Could Drive A Person Crazy” from the Carnegie Hall concert in particular), and the “Know Things/Bounce” combo worked as well.

Powerhouse moments of the night: Beth Leavel STOPPED. THE. SHOW. with “Ladies Who Lunch.”  Lea did the same in Act Two with “Everything’s Coming Up Roses.” Both songs are acerbic and angry, and Beth and Lea let it all out. Bernadette’s renditions of “Send in the Clowns” and “Losing My Mind” had the tears flowing, as did Lea’s “Loving You” (not one of my favorite Sondheim songs, and Lea still managed to make me sob) and “Somewhere,” and all of the women singing “Not A Day Goes By” to a photo of Sondheim. Equally powerful on the comedic side: Lea as Mrs. Lovett alongside Kevin Earley as Sweeney on “Worst Pies in London” and “A Little Priest.”

Personal highlights for me: Bonnie Langford’s take on “I’m Still Here,” Gavin Lee’s “Could I Leave You?” and Gavin and Beth’s “It’s The Little Things You Do Together,” three of my favorite Sondheim songs. Those first two could easily have gone to Bernadette and Lea, who of course would have been phenomenal, but I felt something special seeing one of my favorite Doctor Who companions sing about still being in the game after all these years and seeing Gavin chew the scenery on a song from Follies usually sung by a woman (they used this conceit in Side by Side by Sondheim as well).

If most of the highlights I’ve mentioned featured the female cast members, I have to admit that the show feels more heavily weighted to them both as solo performances and in the group numbers. The women have pretty much all of the true showstoppers. Jacob Dickey does have the lead on “Being Alive,” but it quickly turns into a full-cast number; Kyle Selig shines during the “Tonight Quintet” but I would love to have seen what he would have done solo with “Maria” or “Something’s Coming.” Kyle, Jacob, and Daniel Yearwood harmonize wonderfully on “Waiting For the Girls Upstairs,” and Gavin, Jason, and Kyle are very funny on “Everybody Ought to Have a Maid,” both of which got boisterous applause. I also personally liked Jason’s “Live Alone and Like It,” one of my favorite Sondheim ditties, but let’s be honest: the song doesn’t pack the emotional heft of the songs Bernadette, Lea, and Beth have. It’s possible this sense of imbalance is because there’s no male cast member of the stature of Bernadette and Lea. Or maybe it’s just the way director Matthew Bourne put the show together and chose who would get each number.

I also have to give kudos to “the Sondheim orchestra,” on stage throughout the show, conducted by Annbritt duChateau, and to the set design by Matt Kinley, which made brilliant use of minimal set pieces to move from a classic concert staging to full scenery for the Sweeney and West Side sequences, and to Warren Letton’s lighting design and Jill Parker’s costumes.

Sondheim’s Old Friends runs through mid-June at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre. It’s well worth the price of admission.

We saw the show during the annual fundraising competition for Broadway Cares. I have no idea who bought Bernadette or Lea’s earrings, offered from the stage. I did spring for a copy of the commemorative program signed by the entire cast.

I’ve always loved live theater, and in the past couple of years I’ve been making a stronger effort to see more of it. Theater Thursday is a new occasional series where I talk about live theater, both shows I’ve seen recently and shows I’ve loved in the past.

TOP TENISH: INDEPENDENT BOOK STORES

Tomorrow, Saturday April 26th, is Independent Bookstore Day. So I thought I’d talk about some of my favorite Indy Bookstores, moving geographically from those closest to me to those further away. (I’ll be visiting all of the first 6 listed, probably in listed order.)

Sparta Books (Sparta, NJ) Sparta Books has been my “home ground” bookstore for quite a few years now. Long-time staff members Sue and Linda and owners Jen and Brad are always welcoming and happy to special order anything they don’t have in stock as long as the title is currently in print. The store hosts a monthly Lego night for kids, a number of author events, and a book club that meets the Third Thursday of every month (yes, I’m a member. The group usually reads stuff outside of my normal genres, which challenges me to get “outside my comfort zone” a little bit). Located at 29 Center St, Sparta, NJ 07871.

Pyramid Comics (Sparta, NJ) Pyramid is my “home ground” comics shop. Owner Pete is friendly and knowledgeable. The store is well stocked with current/recent comics and a lot of graphic novels, along with some collectibles. Located at 24 Main St, Sparta, NJ 07871.

Black Dog Books (Lafayette, NJ) I haven’t been into Black Dog since their change in ownership, so I don’t know what their current stock (new vs. used) and genre distribution is, but I look forward to visiting for the first time today. Located at 103 NJ-15 South, Lafayette Township, NJ 07848

Broad Street Books (Branchville, NJ) This is my “home ground” used bookshop. Su and Ethan run a wonderful community-oriented store with stock that is usually heavy on non-fiction but has plenty of fiction, graphic novels, and kid’s books. They also do a lot to support local authors. And their building is a former bank! Located at 1 Mill St, Branchville, NJ 07826

Stanza Books (Beacon, NY) Stanza has become my “home away from home-ground” bookstore, located a short walk from where my sister lives. A cozy, welcoming space, owners Andi and Mark run multiple monthly book clubs (mystery, science fiction, fantasy, horror, literary, “feel good,” and “books in comparison” all get their own nights) plus tons of book launches and author conversations. For my money, they are THE genre bookstore in the Dutchess/Putnam County NY area. Located at 508 Main St, Beacon, NY 12508

Binnacle Books (Beacon, NY) Binnacle is a lovely, tightly packed, used bookstore on Main Street in Beacon. Every visit, I find some surprise I didn’t realize I was looking for. The staff are always helpful and willing to chat about books. Located at 321 Main St, Beacon, NY 12508.

The Mysterious Bookshop (New York City, NY) Otto Penzler’s Mysterious Bookshop has been a staple in Lower Manhattan for decades. The staff is always fun to talk to, so incredibly knowledgeable about the mystery and crime genres. In particular, this is a great place to find long out-of-print volumes and Sherlockiana, along with their American Mystery Classics and Bibliomysteries lines (from The Mysterious Press). AMC reprints classics of the genre by American authors like Cornell Woolrich, Mary Roberts Rinehart, Dorothy L. Hughes, and Ellery Queen. The Bibliomysteries line is a series of novelettes about crimes and mysteries that are book centric. Located at 58 Warren St, New York, NY 10007.

The Drama Bookshop (New York City, NY) Co-owned by the great Lin-Manuel Miranda, TDB is a great spot to find all things theatre-related (not just Broadway): play scripts, memoirs, musical librettos, books on theatre history, acting and stagecraft, as well as memorabilia (coffee mugs, key chains, etc.). Located at 266 W 39th St, New York, NY 10018.

Sweet Pickle Books (New York City, NY) I mean, what’s not to love about a store that sells used books AND jars of pickles? It’s a very narrow, heavily stocked store, so I’ll admit that I sometimes feel a little claustrophobic in there, but I love the selection of both books and pickles. Certain days of the week, if you donate 5 books you get a free jar of pickles in return! Located at

Three Lives & Company (New York City, NY) Another wonderful independent shop in Manhattan. No used books, but well-stocked with warm, friendly staff. Located at 154 W 10th St, New York, NY 10014, not far from the landmark Stonewall Inn.

Shakespeare & Company (New York City, NY). There are stores with this name all over the world (most notably in France). Until recently, this was a small chain around Manhattan but now there’s only one location still open, with a small café at the front and a broad selection of titles in all genres. Located at 2020 Broadway, New York, NY 10023, near Lincoln Center.

The Eloquent Page (St. Albans, VT) I travel once a year to St. Albans for work and pay at least once visit to this used bookstore every time I’m there. I can highly recommend their Arthurian and gaming sections in particular, but there’s bound to be something for everyone here. Located at 70 N Main St, St Albans City, VT 05478.

Studio Moonfall (Kenosha, WI) Paid my first visit to this shop earlier this month and will gladly go back whenever I’m in the Kenosha area. They have a ton of stuff from various small press genre publishers, a small selection of used books, and a nice selection of original coloring books created by the store’s owner. Located at 5031 7th Ave, Kenosha, WI 53140.

The Inner Child (Kenosha, WI) Another comic and collectibles store I visited for the first time recently after years of hearing about it. The sheer amount of comic book related stuff in this store is overwhelming, in the best possible way. All manner of comics and magazine back issues, along with action figures, posters, DVDs, video games, statues … It was well worth the visit (for my collection, if not for my checking account) and I’m eager to return.

Downtown Books (Milwaukee, WI) Another store I’ve only visited once, a year ago, but this multi-room used bookstore will always have my heart because they were willing to dig through a packed warehouse to help me rebuild my paperback Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators set, a fond childhood memory. Hoping to get back there soon. Located at 624 N Broadway, Milwaukee, WI 53202.

The Iliad Bookshop (North Hollywood, CA) Another store I get to perhaps once a year but always find a small pile of books to acquire. Like Downtown Books, the store is a bit of a maze, but a fun maze. With cats. And a wonderful façade that book lovers will appreciate. My second favorite place to find Arthuriana. Located at 5400 Cahuenga Blvd, North Hollywood, CA 91601.

Also, a couple of small chains (meaning only a few stores, usually in the same geographic region):

McNally-Jackson Books (5 locations in New York City) I mostly visit the Rockefeller Center location but have been to several of the others. One of the things I love about these stores is the layout: entire sections dedicated to fiction from various parts of the world. On the second floor of the Rockefeller Center location, there are shelving units (rather than one shelf) not just for fiction from America, Canada, and the UK, but for countries across Europe, Asia, South America, Africa, and Pacifica. Of course, they also have the usual genre sections, a ton of non-fiction, and a fun pens-and-journals area.

The Open Book (4 locations in Los Angeles area) I’ve only been to the location in Canyon Country/Santa Clarita of this used bookstore chain, but I love it. They have great SF and fantasy sections, an ever-interesting stock of vintage paperbacks and hardcovers, pulp magazines, DVDs, CDs, and vinyl. Last visit, I found some vintage hardcovers of Mission: Impossible, The Man From U.N.C.L.E., and The Adventures of Spin & Marty.

So tell me about your favorite Indie Bookstores and where they are. I travel a lot for work, so I’m always happy to find new stores to visit!

Book Review: A WEB OF OBSIDIAN

TITLE: A Web of Obsidian (Obsidian Sisterhood #1)

AUTHOR: Lydia M. Hawke

231 pages, Michem Publishing, ISBN 9781989457290 (print, also e-book)

MY RATING: 5 stars out of 5

I have been a fan of Lydia M. Hawke since the first book in the Grigori Legacy series (when it was originally published under the author’s real name, Linda Poitevin*), so it’s probably not a surprise that I quite enjoyed A Web of Obsidian, her newest urban fantasy series. Although I’m not sure that “urban fantasy” is the totally correct genre label for this series, as the magic the main character encounters turns out to be the result of an ancient alien visitor to Earth … but “urban science fiction” doesn’t have the same ring, and didn’t Arthur C. Clarke say that any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic? So maybe I’m overthinking the label …

Web is narrated in the first person by Sister Monica Barrett, sixty-nine years old and the holder of two black belts (continuing from the Crone Wars books Hawke’s penchant for centering older women as series leads). Well, former Sister -- Monica left the church years ago but still lives with a group of nuns while running a shelter for women (abused, abandoned, in need of support). Monica is always ready to stand up for her convictions and for the rights of the women she has decided to protect – including an emaciated, nearly dead woman who shows up on the shelter’s front porch pursued by a mysterious man. Sister Monica is beaten almost to death by the man before the nearly dead woman tosses her a smooth, flat stone that reinvigorates Monica and allows her to defeat the woman’s would-be assailant. This plunges Sister Monica into a world of secret societies at odds with each other.

To clear: Sister Monica kicks ass even before she gains mystical abilities she doesn’t understand. She is a psychologically and physically strong female protagonist. While she shares two traits with Claire Emerson, the lead character in Hawke’s Crone Wars series (both are retirement-age women who are at first overwhelmed by the revelation that magic is real and that they have been chosen to wield it), the two are very different in personality and in non-magical physical ability. I mention this because I would hate anyone to think that Web of Obsidian is just a retread of Becoming Crone. The main character, the way the magic system works, the way the story beats play out as Monica slowly discovers what she’s been drawn into, are all quite different. I liked Claire … I would hang out with Sister Monica.

Bear in mind that this is the first book in a new series, so not every question introduced is answered. There are enough reveals to feel satisfied at the end, and enough lingering questions to leave a reader intrigued to read book two. And a couple of twists along the way to keep things interesting. There are also several supporting characters that I’m interested in seeing developed as the series progresses.

*A few years ago, Poitevin decided to start publishing her urban fantasy series under a different name from her romance and romantic suspense books, hence the Grigori Legacy, Crone Wars, and Obsidian Sisterhood series now being issued under the “Lydia M. Hawke” name.

I received an electronic advance reading copy of this book for free from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. Web of Obsidian releases in print and e-book form on February 25, 2025.

Book Review: OUR SHARE OF NIGHT

TITLE: Our Share of Night

AUTHOR: Mariana Enriquez   TRANSLATOR: Megan McDowell

588 pages, Hogarth Books, ISBN 9780451495150 (paperback; also hardcover, e-book, audio)

MY RATING: 5 stars out of 5

Mariana Enriquez’s Our Share of Night, translated into English by Megan McDowell, is not an easy book to read. It is close to 600 pages of dense emotive language, shifts in point-of-view, jumps in time, forays into multiple horror sub-genres, history lessons, and a pervading sense of doomed inevitability. But it is a book worth reading and contemplating. I might not have read the book, or at least not now, if it hadn’t been chosen as the January selection for Stanza Books’ Horror Book Club. Weeks after finishing it, scenes are still popping unbidden into my head and the urge to research the 1980s history of Argentina in more detail keeps growing.

Our Share of Night is primarily the story of Juan Peterson and his son Gaspar, who one morning in January 1981 set out on a road trip that will eventually take them to the remote family estate of Juan’s recently deceased wife, Rosario. Rosario’s family is part of a worldwide cult called The Order, and Juan is the Order’s unwilling medium, keeping them in contact with the Darkness they worship and which they believe has promised them immortality of a sort. Juan will do anything to protect his son from being used by the Order – even if it means putting himself, his brother Lius, his best friend Stephen, and his wife’s half-sister Tali in danger. The aftereffects of that initial road trip play out years later, as Juan’s health continues to fail and Gaspar ages into adulthood.

 I say ‘primarily’ because in addition to the large sections of the book told in close third-person from Juan’s and then Gaspar’s POV (with occasional forays into close third from the POVs of various friends and loved ones), there are shorter sections told from other people’s POV: a stream-of-consciousness section from the POV of Juan’s adoptive “father” Doctor Bradford; a short first-person section narrated by a journalist; and a long flashback narrated by the late Rosario. The Doctor Bradford section was the toughest part of the book for me, as stream-of-consciousness is not a form I enjoy, and also one of the more horrific passages as well.

Enriquez smoothly intermixes supernatural/cosmic horror (the scenes with the unknowable Darkness and the way it manifests through Juan),cult horror (The history and machinations of The Order), body horror (very much not easy to read are the passages describing what one of the Order members has done to deform young children), slasher horror (people in a house with a deranged killer), houses that are haunted or connected to supernatural realms (several), medical horror (the AIDS Crisis), generational trauma, and the very real horrors of living under a dictatorship that caused the disappearance of thousands of citizens. I’m hard pressed to think of a sub-genre of horror that isn’t represented in one form or another. There’s even a bit of erotic horror.

The true core of the book is the characters. I can’t say that I particularly like Juan, but I believed, and even admired, his need to protect his son from the horrors that have been inflicted on him. I believed in his need to somehow revenge himself on those who have abused him. I felt for Gaspar even as I yelled at him (yes, I yelled – I didn’t throw the book across the room, but I yelled) for falling into some of the same negative behaviors his exhibited. Enriquez’s handling of this generational inheritance of anger and propensity for physical violence is nuanced and oh so very realistic, as is Gaspar’s awareness that he needs to break the cycle and his struggle to do so. Rosario is equally complex in her love for Juan and her drive to take over (and theoretically change) the Order but at what cost? What, if anything, does she consider unacceptable?

Enriquez also has a lot to say about the perseverance of organizations and orders. She never directly references the legend of the Hydra (cut off one head, and two more grow back) but like that creature, despite generational bulldozing (for lack of a better term), the Order keeps coming back – much like the dictatorships of Argentina (the faces may change; the methodologies of control don’t). And so the horror continues even as the book ends.

As stated earlier, this is not an easy book to read for many reasons. But what it has to say about the history of Argentina, of colonialism, of fanaticism, is too important not to make the effort. It’s not a polemic; it’s not a lecture. It is a fantastic, character driven novel that also holds a mirror up to systems of control (organizational and interpersonal) while also touching on pretty much every type of horror story you can think of.

I’ve had Enriquez’s 2021 short story collection, The Dangers of Smoking in Bed, on my To Be Read bookcase pretty much since it was published, and bought her 2024 collection, A Sunny Place for Shady People, as soon as it came out – both at the recommendation of Mark at Stanza Books in Beacon NY. This novel has convinced me to move both collections up closer to the top of my To Be Read stacks.