AUTUMN LEAVES. A GUIDE TO THE FALL COLORS OF THE NORTHWOODS.

Customer Reviews:

One of the most pleasurable books I have........2002-07-13

Despite its small size and paperback format, this is one of my most treasured books. I am a resident of Michigan, and the fall is always a highlight of our year. Michiganders, as an army, await autumn leaves and "leaf peeping", as young children await Christmas morning. This is the ONLY book I've ever seen that really gives its reader a good understanding of this beautiful phenomenon.

The first 17 or so pages give a physical, chemical, and biological discourse on why leaves change, and on what goes into the makeup of the various colors. The next 100+ pages cover all deciduous trees of northeastern North America, in turn, with a good discussion of each species being attended by excellent four-color photographs of the subject tree in various formats, including group, solo, and partial shots. Finally a sixty-page section gives the same ememplary treatment to northeastern North American evergreens. These, too, form part of the fall patterns, albeit in a more subdued way.

If you live in the area bounded by Ontario, Minnesota, Missouri, Tennessee, Virginia, Maine, New Brunswick, and Quebec, or are planning to visit any states or provinces in that area this fall, buy this book now, and read it over. You'll be glad you did, this year and every year. I would give this book a ten-star rating if I could, and recommend it highly. An invaluable bargain.

Many color photos, nice treatments on species, well done.......1999-08-29

This is really well done. There are numerous color photos (both closeups, some whole tree shots, and often a shot of a grouping of trees showing the characteristics of the tree being described. I highly recommend this for anyone wanting a guide to Fall trees or even for planning your plantings. It's also reasonably priced. My only misgiving is that it isn't longer and cover the entire eastern US!

Book Description

No matter what your budget or whether it's your first trip or fifteenth, Fodor's Gold Guides get you where you want to go. In this completely up-to-date guide our experts who live in Japan give you the inside track, showing you all the things to see and do -- from must-see sights to off-the-beaten-path adventures, from shopping to outdoor fun. Fodor's Japan shows you hundreds of hotel and restaurant choices in all price ranges -- from budget-friendly B&Bs to luxury hotels, from casual eateries to the hottest new restaurants, complete with thorough reviews showing what makes each place special. The Smart Travel Tips A to Z section helps you take care of the nitty gritty with essential local contacts and great advice -- from how to take your mountain bike with you to what to do in an emergency. Your personal supply of Post-it? flags makes it easy to mark your favorite listings. Plus, web links, costs, and mix-and-match itineraries make planning a snap.

Customer Reviews:

Nice $$ Hotels; Restaurant Reviews; Shopping.......2004-10-24

I have this guide but I don't take it to Japan. It probably has the best descriptions of all the temples and sights, but practical information, such as "Where is this hotel?" seems to be left out. For example, there is an entire page devoted to a description of Nijo-jo in Kyoto. However, if you're staying at the "starred" (recommended) Yachiya Ryokan in Kyoto, all you have to go on to get there is its address: 34 Nanzen-ji fukuchi-cho, etc. At least the Kyoto hotel map will give a general location. Only the hotel map has hotel locations and you have to find it among the other sightseeing maps. On many maps, such as that of Nagasaki, not one hotel is placed. Luckily, the hotels listed are large enough that a taxi driver should be able to find them.

Especially in the major destinations, each chapter has an "A to Z" listing that gives practical information about transportation, car rentals, sightseeing tours, and shopping, such as listing the department stores and craft shops.

There is usually a comprehensive hotel listing, but most seem to be in Y20,000 ($200) and up categories. There is sometimes one "token" inexpensive place listed, such as the Hiraiwa Ryokan in Kyoto.

This guide has the best listing of good restaurants, if your trip includes dining out at top-notch restaurants. Restaurants of all ethnicities are covered, from Middle Eastern and French to Indian and Japanese. The decor is commented on as well as the food and service.

I think this guide is for people with a large budget and little time, who can take taxis to find destinations, and once there, would like to read about it. It's also for those who will be spending 99% of their time between Tokyo and Hiroshima. Once the core area is left, the listings get thin for Tohoku, Hokkaido, Shikoku, and Kyushu. Many places are listed but the practical information is missing (choice of hotels and restaurants).

Itineraries in locale chapters are suggested under subheadings such as "If you have 2 days," to help you decide where you'd like to go. Entire Japan trip itineraries at the beginning are suggested if you have 14-16 days, 9 days, or 8 days. These are helpful in planning if you haven't been before.

Some of the information provided wasn't checked and is incorrect. It is nothing major though. For example, the author of the Sado Island sections states that "10,000 tons of silver and gold are mined annually." It's not even a typo; Mitsubishi Mining Co. sold off the mine in 1973 when it stopped producing. The Sado Gold Mine, Co. worked it until 1989 and then shut down. Another place is in Kushiro, Hokkaido where an arriving ferry is mentioned. There is no longer any ferry to Kushiro from Tokyo. These are minor errors but you can find them throughout.

If you plan to do Japan in 2 weeks, enjoy staying in $150-$200 per night hotels or ryokan, can rent a car at several destinations, and take taxis to get to your hotel, restaurant, or sightseeing destination, then this guide is a good choice. It is not for the budget traveller who is concerned with saving money to stay longer. It has more historic and cultural information about each place than other guides except maybe Kodansha or Eye Witness. It also lists more top-end hotels than even the JNTO brochures.

I have it, I take notes from it, but I don't carry it with me.

Very good, but there may be stronger contenders.......2004-06-22

Fodor's was the fourth guide that I bought for Japan. It did not disappoint, but competition is tough and others do a better job in some areas.

My biggest complaint would be a poor map of Tokyo subway (black and white, coding of lines difficult to follow even for someone who is not a complete newcomer), even poorer street map of Tokyo itself and no subway map for Kyoto. True, you can get free subway maps; and decent maps of Tokyo are available separately, but after investing money into a good guide you should not have to worry about this.

The guide sounds inspired and cheerful, sections about dining, culture and the language are better than adequate. It can be quite prescriptive at times, but it does not really stand in the way of enjoyment.

The guide does a good job countering small-minded myths about "expensive Japan". To all those whining about $10 cups of coffee and $100 melons I say this: if coffee and melons and other comforts are so crucial to you, maybe you should stay at home to make sure you have cheap supply of these commodities. One recalls certain Lonely Planet writers who dedicate half of their time spent in Scandinavia to a search for cheap booze; they get very disappointed when they cannot find any and then they go on for pages and pages about it. Well, Fodor's guide does not get its foot into the same trap: when in Japan, do not try to recreate home experiences and you'll be fine. Still, I think the guide worries too much about Italian and Mexican restaurants in Japan: I do not think there are many people so strange that they would go half-way around the world and then try to get something that is available back home for a fraction of a price. Anyway, looking for an italian place in Japan is a bit like shopping for a computer in Ghana - yes, it is available, but why would you do it?

The guide is strong on directions to the attractions and descriptions are brief but accurate. I liked Hokkaido section which not all guides cover adequately (DK Eyewitness, for example, only managed to cough up a few pages - definitely not sufficient for the exciting land that is the north of Japan).

It is disappointing that Fodor decided not to cover Okinawa at all: many of travellers to Japan would want to go there. I understand this was done because they needed more space for Tokyo and Kyoto.

It is evident that the writers do not have the same fascination with Tokyo as they have with Kyoto. It is not a shortcoming because no-one really loves both the same way, yet you may find that Rough Guide does a more spirited coverage of the main city.

Overall, DK Eyewitness has much better maps (not so strong on anything else, unfortunately), Lonely Planet has solid descriptions and practical info of some more remote places and also covers kanji versions of placenames in a very convenient way, but overall Rough Guide Japan is still the strongest book for the destination (and I am not a natural fan of Rough Guide, but in Japan they really surpassed themselves and all others).

Fodor's Japan is good but not ideal unless you like their writing style and their indexing system (admittedly quite good, and goes some way towards compensating for less-than-adequate mapping) so much that you are prepared to ignore the shortcomings.

Gaijin friendly.......2004-04-03

I used this book on a one week visit to Japan with my 15-year old daughter. While I had been to Japan many times on business, I had always been accompanied by Japan-based associates who delivered me from one destination to another, and refused to let me get lost. I had also not had the opportunity to do any genuine sightseeing. Using this book as our only guide we were able to: 1) Walk from our hotel in Akasaka to the Imperial Palace, seeing the Diet and a couple of shrines on the way; 2) Take the subway and trains to Kamakura for a tour of the temples; 3) Take the subway to Ryogoku to check out the Sumo stables; 4) Buy tickets and ride the shinkansen (bullet train) to Kyoto for a tour of the temples, and return; 5) Take an ikebana (flower arranging) lesson at the Sogetsu Kaikan; And 6) shop in the Ginza and other areas. In all cases, the directions and advice were on target. I highly recommend this book.

One of the best guide books on Japan.......2003-11-30

I brought an earlier edition of "Fodor's Japan" in the mid 90ies, before my first trip to Japan. Since than, I have been back in Japan several times and read several other travel guides, including the Lonely planet guides.
I found Fodor's really outstanding. The walking tours by district are really helpful when you don't prepare for hours in advance. If you do them, you have really covered 80-90% of the important sites. This is especially helpful for day trips to Hakone, Nikko or Nara. Longer tours include good restaurant and take out tips and the descriptions are short enough to read up on while walking while still offering interesting details. I think the sections on Kyoto and Tokyo are even better than the once in guide books focused only on these cities. The book features a good range of hotels as well, organized by area and prize, but I found the dinning part really outstanding. For example, the Kanda's hidden soba shops, the collection of stylish bars or world class tempura restaurants I found in no other guide. So, I would really recommend the guide book.

Amazon.com

What to do? The Queen of Trouble (that charming town between Good-Grief! and Who's-to-Blame?) can't seem to catch a single wink, despite countless hours in her Twinkle Room equipped with plush pillows and sheets of silk and velveteen. She's decided that the Royal Mattress just won't do, that it's always either too hard or too soft: "Is it too much to request-- / After all, I am the Queen-- / That I'd like a little rest / On a bed that's... in between?"

The servants mobilize the King, who springs into action: "Good citizens of Trouble, / Will you gather round the moat? / Your Queen's extremely restless-- / I suggest we take a vote!" Every possible solution goes up for review, from a rolling gurney to the Mister Tickle Dream Machine. But it's the sweet, young royal cat keeper who zeroes in on a solution. Isabella Abnormella Pinkerton McPugh enlists the King and his subjects to invent a revolutionary new mattress--the truly Queen-sized waterbed!

The verse of J. Patrick Lewis (Riddle-icious) proves as polished as ever, but it's Kyrsten Brooker's lively collage work that steals the show. Somehow she sneaks in blue T-shirts as moat water, while fabric swatches and architectural samples serve to anchor castle walls and wardrobes. Between Lewis's words and Brooker's spirited cast and composition, every page hums with pep and ingenuity. (Ages 4 to 8) --Paul Hughes

Book Description

For everyone who loves nonsense verse, a book worth staying up for!

Even a Queen sometimes has trouble getting a good night's sleep -- especially when her mattress is either too hard or too soft. And when the Queen is unhappy, you can bet she makes the King and the citizens of Trouble miserable, too. While the King tries one absurd thing after another in hopes of finding a suitable bed for his hard-to-please Queen -- from the gardener's wheelbarrow to an enormous wicker basket (not too wide, but to too narrow) -- nothing works to solve the problem, not even his Mister Tickle Dream Machine. Finally, a young servant girl, Isabella Abnormella Pinkerton McPugh, steps forth to say what SHE would do: "Queen Angeline might well prefer a bed that's cool and wavy, Like bubble baths or like the seas that float the Royal Navy..." And voila! Thanks to Isabella, the Queen's insomnia is cured once and for all with the invention of -- the Queen-sized waterbed! Flamboyant and funny collages capture all the humor of this rollicking verse by J. Patrick Lewis, whose tongue-in-cheek nonsense has the appeal of the best of Edward Lear and Ogden Nash.

Customer Reviews:

Just loved it!.......2003-05-08

This is just the cutest book that I've had to read to my daughter at least 3 times a day! We love the style of writing that's teamed with precious illustrations. I also like the extended use of vocabulary throughout the story. A favorite!

Fantastical fun.......2000-09-12

A tale told in clever rhyme that lots of fun (especially to read aloud.) But as much as I enjoyed the tale of an incredibly hard-to-please queen, it's the collage of ingenious illustrations that make me giggle. This is the kind of book you read to your kids, then pour over the illustrations after thay have gone to bed! A wonderful book....I can't wait for more.

Big 'N Easy: Supersized Quilts for Queen Beds

Average customer rating:

Big 'N Easy: Supersized Quilts for Queen Beds
Great book for beginners!

Big 'N Easy: Supersized Quilts for Queen Beds
Judy Hopkins
Manufacturer: That Patchwork Place
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 156477550X

Book Description

Get back to bed quilts! Bestselling author Judy Hopkins leads the way with a collection of trouble-free quilts featuring traditional blocks, a range of beautiful fabrics, and easy techniques—all tailor-made for bigger beds.

· Over 15 patterns fit today's larger beds and thicker mattresses—sizes range from 94" to 102 1/2" square

· Classic designs include Blocks in a Box, Double Nine Patch, Four Square, and String Cross

· Quilts spotlight batiks, florals, and Asian fabrics; also find instructions for making pillowcases and shams

Customer Reviews:

Big 'N Easy: Supersized Quilts for Queen Beds.......2007-08-23

WOW!! An awesome book. Need something quick and easy, this is the book to go to. Judy has done it well. All levels of quilters need this in their library. Thanks Judy!!

Great book for beginners!.......2006-02-27

I bought this book because I wanted an easy quilt project to learn on. This was the perfect book! The instructions are clear and easy to understand, and they even give suggestions for accessories to use the leftover pieces of fabric you'll have. I made the Quartered Log Cabin quilt, using the same colors as in the book, and it turned out perfect! I made my quilt even larger by adding a border to it. I can't wait to start my next project from this book!

Average customer rating:

Thoughts from a Queen-Sized Bed are bitter-sweet.
A Range of Human Concerns
For Better or Worse
For the Long Haul
A gift from a Queen Sized Bed

Thoughts from a Queen-Sized Bed
Mimi Schwartz
Manufacturer: University of Nebraska Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0803242948

Book Description

In this startlingly funny and wonderfully honest book of essays, Mimi Schwartz describes what it means to be married for almost forty years. She writes with a keen and amused eye about growing up in an immigrant Jewish family, coming of age in New York in the 1950s, marrying her high school beau, and then arriving at feminist consciousness in the 1970s like so many others of her generation. But unlike many of her contemporaries who left first marriages for independence, Schwartz stayed loyal to her marriage.

With refreshing candor Schwartz describes the ongoing challenge of marriage, where success is never without ambivalence and humor. Her essays are wise and warm without being sentimental, and the characters in Schwartz's world are quirky and as charming, well rounded, and complex as those found in any novel.

Customer Reviews:

Thoughts from a Queen-Sized Bed are bitter-sweet........2002-04-29

Mimi Schwartz's "Thoughts from a Queen-Sized Bed" was ordered for me as a gift. I found the book to be a most entertaining series of essays, covering a 15 years period. Particularly of interest to those of us who have been married for a number of years. I share many of Mimi's thoughts about marriage, the problems of merging a night person with a day person and it was good to see them in print. Mimi writes with honesty, humor and optimism. She has a mastectomy and husband Stu suffers a heart attack, but she is undaunted. She accepts married life with all its nuances and muses on them for our benefit. Knowing that she is loved by Stu doesn't prevent her from toying with the idea of an affair. Her husband Stu snores and she wraps her arms around him for comfort. Their marriage is like an old shoe, comfortable even if a bit shabby looking after so many years. Mimi takes us through her family history, raising children, and looking forward to grandchildren, through petty squabbles and making love after an argument. She writes from the heart. Thank you Gerry for sending me this gift. Rita Berman - author of The A - Z of Writing and Selling, 1981.

A Range of Human Concerns.......2002-03-13

A Review of Mimi Schwartz's Thoughts from a Queen-Sized Bed

Thoughts from a Queen-Sized Bed is a wonderful collection of personal essays about Schwartz's life as a single then a married woman, as a wife and mother, and as a women committed to her own profession. These snapshots of her life--portrayed with humor, sensitivity, and insight-make fascinating reading for women and men who, like the author, lived through the 50s and 60s and who can easily identify with her dilemmas. But it also provides other readers with an insightful peek into living, dating, and marrying in an earlier era.

In Thoughts from a Queen-Sized Bed, one encounters a range of human concerns, among them: the tensions of being a first generation American, and a Jew, in a culture of mostly established Gentiles; the desire to stay slim, attractive, and healthy in world where women weren't expected to be athletic; the stresses of juggling marriage, the demands of motherhood, and a successful career... [and] the temptations to stray from a long term marriage....
I found reading this book a great pleasure. Schwartz has mastered the form of the personal essay, and her craft is evident on every page. In "A Night for Haroset," for example, she recounts a family Passover Seder that is rich with overtones of the couple's recent illnesses, of Schwartz's fragile connection to Judaism, and of interfamilial tensions.

The family is alive and well in these essays, and I hated to have to stop reading. Had there been more, I would have gleefully continued making a glutton of myself.

For Better or Worse.......2002-03-02

It is refreshing to read a book about family life that is not dysfunctional. Mimi Schwartz in her new book of essays "Thoughts From a Queen-Sized Bed," has given us a view of her life and experiences that could be anybody's "normal" family. Her thoughts on growing up, parents, love, marriage, children, celebrations, vacations, illness and death, all felt familiar and I kept finding myself nodding in agreement. In fact, in several of the essays, I thought Ms. Schwartz had been a fly on the wall of my house! I really enjoyed reading this book and would highly recommend it to anyone who wants to read about life in a humorous and touching way.

For the Long Haul.......2002-02-22

What makes for an enduring marriage? My reading of Mimi Schwartz is that a portion of wry detachment comes in handy. Unlike so many women of her (and my) generation who have abandoned a marriage or two on the way to professional success and personal fulfillment, Schwartz has stuck with her Stu, and he with her, and these essays often give off a bit of the tension that underlies such give and take. My standards for good memoir rest more on the quality of reflection than on the drama of the incidents,and Schwartz is a sharp observer of the everyday. But there is plenty of shadow here, most prominently her father's narrow escape from the Holocaust, a family historic event that left her not only cognizant of calamity but grateful for good fortune.Would I recommend this book for newly-weds? Maybe after the first big fight. The more battle-scarred among us will applaud the couples' continuing attraction to each other.

A gift from a Queen Sized Bed.......2002-02-21

Mimi Schwartz's memoir, Thoughts from a Queen Sized Bed, had me alternately laughing out loud, and crying quietly by myself. Her book is a series of short essays about marriage, family, motherhood, illness, work, life, and more!

What is so poignant about this collection is that it is a raw, deeply honest and open memoir that reveals insights into the author's heart. But more than that, her revelations about her own life are, at times, so universal that anyone can find a thought that pertains to their own experience in the world. Her words about her life help us define our own selves more accutely.

There is a humorous chapter on a family reunion "Alan Should Have Rented a Car," that touches on everyone's experience of such an event: the joy and intensity of being with people with whom you have love, history, and future, and yet the inherent difficulty, and real frustration and saddness that such gatherings also deliver.

At times her honesty is so brutal that its makes one want to wince and look away from her pain. Her chapter on breast cancer and mastectomy, "Dreaming of Lace," was brutally honest. And yet her words make us understand the experience in a profound and yet very human way.

Other essays force us to search inside ourselves and face our own follies and foibles, as we follow along with hers. She deals with everything from friendship to betrayal, from getting lost on the way to Cape Cod (who hasn't had the argument about who forgot the map and should we ask for directions?) to finding ones way on the Galapagos Islands. She shares secrets with us about parenting her children, and watching her children become parents, and she forces us to examine our own views of death and dying as she commandingly - yet with a touch of doubt - shares her views with us.

This is a brilliant, beautiful memoir that will not only touch your heart, but aid you in knowing your own life a little deeper.

Thank you Mimi Schwartz, for such a gift!

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BLACK AND WHITE BUDGET - Volume 4, number 70 - February Feb 9 1901: The Last Summons - The Royal Family at the Death Bed of Our Beloved Queen; Victoria - verse by W. A. MacKenzie; The Proclamation of the King; Six Hitherto Unpublished Photographs of Queen
Anonymous (editor)
Manufacturer: Black and White Budget
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000GVZ9ZY

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Harlequin Americana Series, No. 15 Thru 20: The Homeplace (Iowa); The Mating Season (Kansas); Bluegrass King (Kentucky); The Bride of the Delta Queen (Louisiana); Summer Mahogany (Maine); Bed of Grass (Maryland)
Janet Dailey
Manufacturer: Harlequin Enterprises, Limited
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000VGLKMU

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In the Bed of the Kings- Wedding Nights
Juliette Benzoni
Manufacturer: EKCMO
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 5040092962

Product Description

RUSSIAN LANGUAGE EDITION

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The Prince Won't Go to Bed!
Dayle Ann Dodds
Manufacturer: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Book Description

“WAA! WAA! WAA! I will not go to bed!”
the teeny-tiny, itty-bitty, little Prince said.

Nanny is at her wits’ end. Why won’t the Prince go to bed? Squire Frat, Lord Gerty, and others in the royal household try to help. Could he want a fluffy pillow? A softer mattress? A gentle lullaby? As the Prince’s cries get louder and louder, the castle turns topsy-turvy—until Princess Kate, woken by the ruckus, thinks to ask her brother why he won’t settle down—discovering that a simple good-night kiss is all he wants.

Ingenious collage illustrations rich with funny antics bring this medieval world to life, while the rollicking rhyme will have listeners chiming in with glee.

The Queen's Bed (At the Court of Queen Elizabeth)

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The Queen's Bed (At the Court of Queen Elizabeth)
Karen Wallace
Manufacturer: Franklin Watts Ltd
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Swamp Witch Piquante and Scream Queen Bisque over a Bed of Rice

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REVIEW FROM BATON ROUGE ADVOCATE AND NECROPSY BY TONY FONSECA
Horror with local color

Swamp Witch Piquante and Scream Queen Bisque over a Bed of Rice
M. F. Korn
Manufacturer: Silver Lake Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1931095787

Book Description

Two horrific tales to delight Korn lovers.

In "The White Trash Witches Coven", Keith Ogden accidentally meets a witch in a Super-Usav-Mart. When she invites him to join the coven, he accepts, thinking of evil sorceries and dances with the devil. The gaggle of chatty women he encounters severely disappoints, with their baby pictures, recipes, and addictions to trashy afternoon TV. Is this "coven" just a group of wannabes, or is something more sinister lurking underneath the chicken grease?

In "Pavane for a Scream Queen", Jeff Vincent, freelance writer for Filmland Magazine and as-of-yet-undiscovered novelist, has landed the interview of a lifetime with cult favorite Aurora Sterling, scream queen of the 1950's classic B-movies. But when Dame Aurora cancels and those who worked with her die or go into hiding, Jeff finds himself in the middle of a mystery. What is the secret behind this gorgeous, elegant woman? Is it just Hollywood hype, or something else much older and eternal?

Customer Reviews:

REVIEW FROM BATON ROUGE ADVOCATE AND NECROPSY BY TONY FONSECA.......2005-09-05

-----
Information about author (not part of review):
-------------------------------------
About MF Korn, author of twelve novels and 240 stories published:

Three of MF Korn's books, CONFESSIONS OF A GHOUL AND OTHER STORIES, and ALIENS, MINIBIKES AND OTHER STAPLES OF SUBURBIA, and also SKIMMING THE GUMBO NUCLEAR were mentioned in The Year's Best Fantasy & Horror: Fifteenth Annual Collection. CONFESSIONS OF A GHOUL AND OTHER STORIES was mentioned in The Mammoth Book Of Best New Horror edited by Stephen Jones. RACHMANINOFF'S GHOST was also mentioned in The Mammoth Book Of Best New Horror edited the following year.

---------------------------------------------
(Here is review below)

Be Careful D'awlin, Or You Might Get Yaself Stuck in the Nint Level a Hell

by Tony Fonseca
02/08/2005

Korn, M. F. Swamp Witch Piquante and Scream Queen Bisque (Over a Bed of Rice). Silver Lake Publishing, 2004. 192 p.

Mais even Boudreaux and Thibodeaux know dat's is' bad luck to sit cross-legged in a funeral home, or dat if you drop a egg, and is' rotten, dat means you husband's runnin' round behind you back, or dat if you find a nickel under the kitchen table, it means that company comin'. Bet dey even know dat if de moon got a ring around it on you birtday, that mean you gonna get married that year.

Dese kind-a supa-stitions-er, I mean these kinds of superstitions-and the belief in witchcraft, is what informs the first of two early novellas by M. F. Korn, collected under the title Swamp Witch Piquante and Scream Queen Bisque. Though hardly horrific in the strictest sense of the word, "The White Trash Witch's Coven" and "Pavane for a Scream Queen" (the word "pavane" refers to the music that would accompany a stately 16th Century dance) manage to be delightful in parts, and just plain fun overall.

For those of you that follow this e-zine regularly, the previous assessment might have come as a shock. After all, various Necropsy reviewers have tackled this Baton Rouge native's genre prose in the past, usually finding it lacking, and sometimes unreadable. And after actually enjoying-without equivocation-these two novellas, I think I see why: Korn seems most at home when he is writing regional fiction, especially when he has fun with his characters, creating recognizable faces for those who are familiar with an area and its inhabitants. The problem is he doesn't do this often enough.

"The White Trash Witch's Coven," by far my favorite Korn fiction to date, is full of 'Yat dialogue (a 'Yat is a person native to certain suburbs of N'awlins, and is usually known for a heavy accent and the use of the greeting "where y'at?") and down home white and black magic. It's also one of those Night Gallery type pieces where dramatic irony plays a huge role, as readers realize the downfall of the main character well before he even begins to suspect that something is amiss. In it, a curious, bored and slightly ill college drop-out named Keith Ogden meets a strange woman in a Super-Usav-Mart (Korn sometimes is over-the-top with his naming), and she recommends a home remedy for his cough, claiming to be a witch and a member of a local coven. This "coven" is made up mainly of trashy country types who live in the Baton Rouge suburb of Dunham Springs (there is actually a Denham Springs located just outside of Baton Rouge). She invites him to join the coven, and of course he accepts almost without question, out of curiosity, but mainly out of ennui. He soon discovers that the coven is composed mainly of chatty-and very catty-middle-aged women, who discuss soap operas as much as they do black magic. To make matters worse, Keith has stumbled along at a time when there is a petty power struggle within the coven. Unbeknownst to him, however, his presence will alleviate these tensions, but at a cost.

Though not nearly as well-written or fun, the second novella, "Pavane for a Scream Queen," is also one of Korn's better products. It lacks the snappy dialogue of "The White Trash Witch's Coven," but it reads well, despite the author's tendency towards solipsism. Jeff Vincent, a budding novelist and freelance writer for Filmland Magazine, manages to land an important interview with ex cult movie starlet Aurora Sterling, a scream queen of classic 1950's B-flicks. Vincent, an interview specialist, chomps at the bit for this assignment, for he has somewhat of a fetishistic interest in the aging actress. Like the first tale of this collection, "Pavane" has a surprise ending, and again it is one that the reader sees coming well before the protagonist. But while "White Trash Witch's Coven" ends tragically for Keith, "Pavane" is a different kind of story, an homage if you will, and as such it has no need of a dark ending for Jeff.

Korn is one of those writers that you just find yourself rooting for. He seems to have good ideas, but not always the discipline and the vision to create whole fictional worlds in a readable style. Perhaps this is because pure horror, that is the kind of horror that intends to instill fear or loathing in the reader, is not his forte. I've always most enjoyed his short pieces where he eschews the idea of unabashed horror and opts for poignancy and tongue-in-cheek humor, albeit it dark and oftentimes degenerate. These two novellas may not appeal entirely to devotees of the Lovecraftian vein of horror. However, those who enjoy eccentricity and local color in a dark tale will find quite a bit to like in this collection.

And who knows, maybe ya'll'll learn some y'at-isms while passin' a good time readin'.

Horror with local color.......2004-03-08

"Swamp Witch Piquante," the latest of M.F. Korn's published novels, deviates slightly from the unabashed horror of his previous works to offer a homely, and at times even poignant, view of the feckless, lower middle class women who populate the countryside around Korn's hometown of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. To all appearances, they are trailer-dwelling, soap-opera-watching mediocrities who play-act the rituals of witchcraft chiefly to frighten unfriendly neighbors and schoolyard bullies. The protagonist, Keith Ogden, a student of paranormalism, is drawn into their group but has virtually dismissed them as pitiful misfits, crotchety yet harmless. Will he find out otherwise?
Readers not familiar with the local color of Southeast Louisiana will chuckle at the various ailments and folk remedies catalogued in this book, ascribed to an obscure Creole monograph compiled in 1915. While the remedies are not authentic, they capture the spirit of "les traiteurs," the traditional folk-medicine healers of Cajun Louisiana. They are the credible weapons of aspiring witches.
Because of the copious details about Ms. Sally's family life (one of the leaders of the coven), Swamp Witch Piquante seems to move a bit slower than some of Korn's other works, such as "Confessions of a Ghoul" or "Rachmaninoff's Ghost." However, this does not greatly detract from the main pulse of the story and actually fuels the paradox that at some level, even Ms. Sally is an endearing person. The brief descriptions of Miss Eileen's secret altar and unauthorized ritual are especially vivid and convincing.
Recommended for devotees of the horror genre and readers drawn to eccentric local color.

Three Plays by Ugo Betti Comprising The Queen and the Rebels, The Burnt Flower-Bed, Summertime.

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Three Plays by Ugo Betti Comprising The Queen and the Rebels, The Burnt Flower-Bed, Summertime.
Ugo; Reed, Henry (trans) Betti
Manufacturer: Grove Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000LDZN6C

Book Description

Inspired by ancient Japanese ukiyo-e artists and a polymath's myriad references, John Warwicker has for over 10 years been one of the most original thinkers in the design and creative industries. A founding member of Tomato, the innovative London design collective, he established an international reputation in the 1990s and has been formative in shaping popular media. The Floating World: Ukiyo-e is the first monograph on Warwicker's work. Rather than simply collect old work from commercial commissions and personal projects, Warwicker has written and designed an extensive, original book which only occasionally references prior work. He sets out to document his experiences in an authentic voice, mining the themes, ideas, histories, and memories which have informed and influenced him over the past 10 years. The result is a sophisticated and yet elegiac book constructed from his critical writings, photographs, drawings, films, prints, typography, poetry, and prose. Every text page is an original artwork, delicately constructed in layers of typography, and the interwoven illustrations confirm Warwicker as an innovative visual artist.

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