Portable Cabins Made Like Home

portable cabins can be used for a wide variety of things and can prove more practical in certain situations than other buildings. Here are just a few uses for them. Construction: During the construction of a building or housing development cabins are used to serve as the base for the staff working at the site. A big advantage to using a portable cabin is that they can be easily and quickly transported from one job to the next. They will generally come complete with lights, sockets and heating.

Portable buildings Midlands

When looking for portable buildings in the Midlands there are a lot of companies to choose from. The reason why we are one of the best portable building suppliers is because we run our own transport which means that we can deliver what you want, where you want, when you want it.

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Recipe: Bread Stuffing

 

 

 




Whether you're hosting Thanksgiving or just bringing a
dish., there is always room on the table for a variety of stuffings.. and Bread
Stuffing is one of the most traditional of all stuffings.

I know cooking for a holiday can be intimidating.. but
really it isn't... just a little organization and planning and before you know
it.. it all comes together nicely. 
Stuffing can easily be

Recipe: Caramel Apple Crescents

 






 

These Caramel Apple Crescents are perfect for Fall.    Nothing says Fall like apple and caramel...
a terrific breakfast treat that bakes in 15 minutes.

TIPS

I used a Granny Smith apple.. I like the way the flavor of
the tart apple mixes with the sweetness of the caramel.... my taste tester
thought a sweeter apple would be better.. so you decide.. use whatever you
like.. if you

Recipe: Mashed Sweet Potatoes

Mashed sweet potatoes are great not only on holidays but
also for regular week night meals... they take no extra time than white
potatoes and are a nice alternative.


TIPS

The recipe calls for Fat Free Half and Half or milk.. either
works well... the Fat Free Half and half makes them very creamy.

Use unsalted butter, if possible.  This way you can add how much salt you really
want in the

Recipe: Fried Apples

Another fantastic Southern tradition... Fried Apples.  I admit when I first heard about Fried Apples
I turned my nose up... what??? Fry something that is good for you and ruin
it??? Boy was I ever wrong!


First of all.. there is very little fat in frying apples...  it's more of a cross between chunky applesauce and pie filling... and mind you.. I am not complaining.. it's delicious!


TIPS

I

Everything You Need to Know About Turkey

It's that time of year again.... time to think about planning for Turkey Day.  Here are the links to posts that can help answer some of your questions.  Hope it helps!

Just click on the links below to go directly to the post. To return to the main page hit the back button twice or just click on Home

Let's Talk Turkey

Fresh or Frozen Turkey - Your Decision

How Much Turkey to Buy?

Cooking

Recipe: Cheesy Onion Casserole

With the holidays coming up shortly... I thought it would be
a good time to post a terrific side dish... Cheesy Onion Casserole.   This is really a no fuss side dish that
is so good.. it's almost addicting...

TIPS

I used Campbell's Cream of Onion Soup... I know a lot of
recipes use Cream of Chicken or Mushroom... all I can say is... don't... The
Cream of Onion Soup keeps the flavor as

Recipe: Crockpot Beef Stroganoff

I make a lot of crockpot recipes for the convenience of
them.. but I especially like this recipe for Beef Stroganoff because the slow
cooking makes the meat more tender...

I know this uses canned soup and some other shortcuts.. but
... trust me.. this makes a really good Stroganoff.

TIPS

Make sure you use Golden Mushroom Soup... don't substitute
Cream of Mushroom Soup.. it's just not as

Quick and Easy Halloween Treats

 
I thought I would do a quick post of my Quick and Easy Halloween Treats that I've recently posted...

I always liked to make holidays special for my son when he was growing up...  and while I adore Martha Stewart.. most of her stuff was just not happening..  I had limited time and resources... so it was nice to find a few things that make the day special and that don't require a lot of time

Recipe: Mummy Dogs

Aren't these the cutest little mummys??  Make Halloween special ... with a terrific
hotdog lunch or supper... make them into little mummies.... Mummy Dogs.... BOO!


These are really easy to make... but... you need few tips to
make them...  it took me 2 tries before I
worked out the little kinks... so read on...

TIPS

The number one most important tip.. the hot dogs have to be
dry.... take

Recipe: Super Easy Chicken and Dumplings

A Repost ..of sorts

Ahhhh comfort food... perfect when the weather gets
cooler... Chicken and Dumplings... a Southern favorite.... and what better way
than making it in a crock pot...  no fuss
... one pot and it cooks for you.. now how great is that??


Be warned this is not the dumplings my Mother made.. nope...
not those floury dry things floating in stew... some people adore those

Recipe: Sweet Potato Mashtini

Another great idea to dress up mashed sweet potatoes... the
Sweet Potato Mashtini!  This is a
wonderful way to add a little something extra to a special dinner... perfect
for the holidays... and a recipe that you can make for any number... one, two
or twenty!

TIPS

If you're like me....I don't have a gazillion Martini
glasses... I think my set is for four... 
so if you think you want to

Recipe: Easy Sugared Doughnut Bites

This quick and easy recipe for Sugared Doughnut Bites uses
canned biscuit dough... they cook up in minutes for a quick treat.  They're so yummy and easy to just pop in your
mouth... one after the another.   They
will disappear in no time!


TIPS


Use a frying thermometer... it is the best for helping to
control the temperature... the right temperature when cooking means the
difference between

Recipe: Pepperoni Pizza Quesadillas

I know Pepperoni Pizza Quesadillas sounds a little ...
umm... different... after all... that doesn't sound very Mexican at all... well
it's not... a little Italian.. a little Mexican.. it's all good.

This is a quick and easy lunch... kind of like a slice of
pizza with a top.  Trust me.. it's good!

TIPS

I don't use my Quesadilla maker for this one.. I tried.. but
it failed .. the top of the

Recipe: Oatmeal Caramel Apple Bars

This recipe for Oatmeal Caramel Bars is soooo easy... I mean
really, really easy!   They're absolutely
delicious... the perfect combination of flavors... truly!


This is a Betty Crocker recipe that I altered very
slightly... but in my opinion .. it makes all the difference.  Instead of using a 9 x 13 dish... I use a
slightly smaller baking pan.. an 7 x 11. 
In my opinion, the crust is just a

Recipe: Quick and Easy Broccoli Cheddar Soup

 

Nothing is better than a wonderful bowl of soup on a crisp
fall day.... and this creamy soup certainly fits the bill nicely.
This soup has little prep and cooks up quickly... now how
great is that?


TIPS
I use Fat Free Half and Half... it really lowers the fat
content of this soup without losing the richness...


Yes.. I used real butter... nothing beats the flavor of real
butter... but

Great Tailgating Recipes

 
Fall sports is in full swing and with the weekend coming up... what better time to post some really great Tailgating Recipes!

Whether you're bringing it all or just a dish.... here are some suggestions...

I hope you enjoy your day!







DIPS -  dips and snacks are always welcome at games... and easy to make ahead and tote...




Corned Beef Bread Dip - a quick dip to make and  serve with

kelvintagemall

kelvintagemall

Recipe: Crockpot Au Gratin Potatoes

This recipe for Crockpot Au Gratin Potatoes is quick to
set-up... you can make a great big pot... 
perfect for holidays when oven space is at a premium.. perfect t bring
along to that covered dish supper.. perfect for a buffet.. the crock pot keeps
it warm.... an all around perfect dish!

TIPS

The kind of potatoes you use will make a difference in the
time it takes to cook...  Russets will

Recipe: Crockpot Spaghetti Meat Sauce

Oh the convenience of a crockpot... the inventor should
definitely be given sainthood.  It freed
women everywhere of long hours simmering sauces, soups and a host of other
foods. 



Truth be told I make my spaghetti sauces on top of the stove
too.. in fact, I have a number of recipes that can come together in as little
as 30 minutes... But I will be the first to tell you nothing beats a

Review: Spooky Graveyard Puddings

These adorable Spooky Graveyard Puddings are perfect for
kids and adults alike… make them minis for a party dessert or regular size just
for fun.



TIPS



I’m just going to list ingredients and let you choose your
favorite pudding.. homemade… you can use mine.. or boxed.. or even instant…
what ever floats your boat.



For the dirt… I used crumbled brownies… crumbled chocolate
cookies work

Recipe: Creamy Chicken Enchiladas

This recipe for Creamy Chicken enchiladas is not only easy..
you probably have the ingredients on hand. 
It takes a few shortcuts.. but everyone can use a shortcut now and then…
especially on busy nights.



This is a basic recipe that has been around forever… and
with good reason..  it’s delicious!



TIPS


The recipe calls for cooked chicken.  I use boneless chicken breasts… I season then

Recipe: Mac n Cheese and Kielbasa

There are so many ways to make Macaroni and Cheese.. adding kielbasa slices adds so much flavor... and it's just perfect with the cheddar cheese!

A kid friendly comfort food the whole family will love.

TIPS

I used cheddar cheese… you can use shredded Colby Jack cheese instead.

Use the salt sparingly when you’re making the sauce… don’t forget the kielbasa will add salt to the dish.

This

Recipe: Mongolian Beef

This copycat recipe for P. F. Chang’s Mongolian Beef dish is
absolutely the best.   A basic simple and easy recipe to make… no exotic ingredients to buy… not a lot of work
involved either… a perfect week night meal.



TIPS



While it’s always nice to go out to eat.. it can get
expensive.. and you can’t control the ingredients…  making this at home is easy… you can easily
cut the fat in

Recipe: Pumpkin Muffins

I got this recipe for Pumpkin Muffins from someone who
claimed it was a Weight Watchers recipe…. their version uses two ingredients… a
cake mix and a can of pumpkin… nothing else… so I was intrigued… I tried
it.. 



The result was surprisingly good…. kinda tough to work with
but worth the extra work getting it into the muffin tin.



While the two ingredient recipe was good… I prefer

Recipe: Easy Garlic Parmesan Monkey Bread

This pull-apart Garlic Parmesan Monkey Bread is so easy … a
perfect side to a spaghetti dinner.  
Italian seasoning, garlic. Parmesan cheese and of course butter… make a
truly yummy combination.



TIPS



Follow the recipe… make sure you sprinkle the garlic salt
after you drizzle the butter… otherwise it runs off and some parts of the bread
end up with more garlic and other parts not so much

Recipe: Taco Pizza

Taco Pizza… now doesn’t that sound good?... It combines two
family favorites….  Tacos and Pizza!  Make parts of it ahead for a quick and easy
weeknight meal.



I serve it with a side salad of shredded lettuce and dollops
of guacamole and sour cream.   This side
salad is one served at one of our favorite Mexican restaurants and has become a
family favorite.



TIPS



I highly recommend

Recipe: Taco Sauce

This recipe for Taco Sauce is not only delicious… but it’s
quick and easy… best of all… you probably have the ingredients in your
cupboard.



TIPS



I use Hunts Tomato Sauce… the plain one.. not one with any
spices… a little can is perfect for this.

This sauce has just a little bite to it… if you like things
spicier.. then add a little more cayenne.. but be careful.. a little amount
goes a

Recipe: Chili Dogs

Yummy Chili Dogs… they make a wonderful quick supper…  especially if you make the Chili in the crock
pot… or even if you make up a quick pot of 30 Minute Chili… either way… make the
chili one day and serve the Chili Dogs another night…. some oven fries and you’re
in business!



TIPS



Make sure the chili is thick not runny… if the chili you
happen to have is runny.. you can thicken it up

Recipe: Broccoli Cheese Mashtini

Mashtinis are all the rage lately.  Seems it is THE thing to have a
Mashtini Bar at weddings.   Mashed
potatoes layered with all sorts of toppings in a martini glass…  what a cool idea!



I wanted to do something different.. so I decided to have
some side dish fun with it… mashed potatoes, steamed broccoli topped with a
cheddar cheese sauce and then sprinkled with some French’s French Fried

Recipe: BBQ Chicken Quesadillas

This delicious spin on a Quesadilla is easy to make .. and
one everyone will love.   BBQ sauce, chicken,
bacon smothered in cheddar cheese… what’s not to love?



This quick and easy recipe makes for great weeknight dinner
or even a weekend lunch.  Serve it with
some fries and coleslaw…  lip smackin’
good!



TIPS



I made this with my Sweet and Tangy BBQ Sauce.. you can use
that recipe or

Recipe: Crockpot Breakfast Casserole

Crockpot Breakfast Casseroles are a terrific idea for camping
or holiday breakfasts for a crowd when ovens are not available for baking or
are being used for other foods for later in the day…. or for when you just don’t
want to be cooking breakfast while everyone else is enjoying the morning.



I must admit I was skeptical when I first saw these… I am a
baked casserole kinda gal… I’d rather

Recipe: 30 Minute Chili

I love making Chili in the fall and winter…. It just seems to go with
the change in weather and colder temps.   I like to make
it in my crockpot..  a big ole pot full…
but sometimes..  I forget to set it up in
the morning… so the 30 Minute Chili recipe is the one.



The recipe isn’t all that different from the crock pot
version…  it is a smaller version… and I
do add a small can of tomato

Witch’s Hat Cookies

How cute are these???



These adorable Witch’s Hat Cookies are easy to make and no baking
required.   Who says cute things have to
be a lot of work?  I certainly don’t.




These are made from Fudge Stripe Cookies, Hershey Kisses,
and a bit of orange frosting you can get in a can.










TIPS



I was all set to buy one of those little tubes… the tip
would have been perfect for making a

Banana Snack Cake

Recently we were talking about foods that seem to have
disappeared… and Snack Cake was among them.  
Growing up, my Mother made Bundt cakes.. all kinds… it was her
thing.  Well, Snack Cakes were my thing
when my son was growing up.   I admit I
used the mix.. but they were good… perfect for a small snack.. perfect for in a
lunch box…  Banana Snack Cake was a
favorite…



Somewhere between the

It's Oktoberfest Time Again!

Picture from the Official Oktoberfest website - © Fotostudio Kubinska & Hofmann - to see more pictures from the festivities go to the official website.

So What Exactly is Oktoberfest?

In case you were wondering what Oktoberfest is.... it's a 16 day festival held each year in Munich, Germany. This Bavarian festival runs from late September to early October. The festival traditionally ends on

French Toast Sticks

I was introduced to French Toast Sticks by a friend at
work.. a couple of times a week she would stop on her way to work and get
some.  So finally I HAD to try them
too.   Ohhh my.. they were very tasty
indeed.

But unlike my friend, who was skinny no matter what she
ate.. I was not.  I had to watch it.. so
it became a once in a while treat.



Fast forward a few years… and I’m sitting

Recipe: Chicken Scampi

Scampi … that wonderfully buttery garlicy dish… I usually make it with scallops or shrimp… but I decided I wanted to make it with chicken… and recently saw it on the menu at Olive Garden.. theirs has more ingredients added… peppers and onions… they use roasted garlic… I really love roasted garlic .. I like to have some in the fridge all the time… decided mushrooms would be a good addition…

Recipe: Cream Cheese Brownie Bites

Who doesn’t love Cream Cheese Brownies? Making them into bite sized is… well… perfect! Perfect for snacks … perfect for a party dessert tray… perfect to bring to a food day at work…. TIPSYou can use my Brownie recipe… or yours.. or even a boxed mix…. whichever way you prefer.The cream cheese needs to be softened…. I made the mistake of letting it soften too much and the cream cheese mixture got

Recipe: Mushroom Stroganoff

For Stroganoff lovers… whether it’s beef, chicken or mushroom.. it’s all good… This recipe for Mushroom Stroganoff is a quick and easy meatless meal… and delicious too!TIPSI use mostly Portobello mushrooms.. I love the earthy flavor they have… If you’ve ever had a Portobello Burger.. you know what I mean.. they almost have a beefy flavor.You can use an “exotic” blend of mushrooms for added

Recipe: Steak and Mushroom Stew

This English version of Steak and Mushroom Stew is a hearty meal … served with warm fresh bread and side salad… any easy meal to prepare… perfect for a fall night.

TIPS

I use sirloin beef for this stew meat… the meat, when cooked at a low simmer is melt in your mouth tender.

You can start this meal in a pot on the stove and then transfer it to a crock pot to finish cooking or just cook it on

A quick overview of upcoming events

September is nearly upon us, and that means the events for An Age of Madness will soon be underway. Here's a quick reminder / go-to list for the upcoming months:

Friday, September 14, 7:00pm: Book Thug Nation, Brooklyn, NY. I will be on my own for a massive, two-hour event which will feature a reading, Q&A, and an introduction from The Next Best Book Club's very own Lori. I'm not quite sure how we'll be filling up the time... Juggling maybe? Arts & crafts? we'll think of something. Books on sale for ten bucks.

Sunday, September 16, 7:00pm: KGB Lit Bar, New York, NY. Another two-hour even but one I'll be sharing with Kathleen Alcott. I think the plan is that we'll each read for a ltitle bit, answer a few questions and sell some books. Again, ten bucks a pop. Lori from TNBBC will be introducing me. My understanding is that KGB Lit Bar really is a bar, so if a few drinks helps to wash down the fiction, well, that'll be available.

Sunday, October 14, 1:00pm: Wordstock Literary Festival, Portland, OR. No details yet as to the exact venue. I will be reading and doing a Q&A. Wordstock sounds like quite the party, so if you have the chance to check it out, I'd recommend it. 

There may be more events on the west coast, including (possibly) appearances at Elliot Bay in Seattle and City Lights in San Francisco. As yet these details have not been confirmed. Stay tuned.

Wednesday, October 17: Mystery surprise event that I'm not allowed to reveal yet. Ha! I can reveal that it's another New York gig, however.

Friday, October 26, 7:00pm: New England Mobile Book Fair, Newton Highlands, MA. (A bit southwest of Boston). This is yet another reading/Q&A that I believe is scheduled for an hour but if it stretches a little longer, that's okay. NEMBF is a grand old bookshop that has been around forever and will be selling my book, in case you haven't picked it up yet.

Please note: the reading at Millrace Books in Farmington has been postponed due to the shop closing. It may or may not be reschuled at a later date.  Also, I'm contionuing to try to add further events, including something at the UConn bookstore in Storrs, CT. Stay tuned.

Don't Open That Door! X the Unknown

Hey kids, the ninth--can it really be the ninth, already?--installment of my PopMatters column, Don't Open That Door!, is up and running. This week sees us visiting a nicely crafted little piece of pre-Dracula Hammer Horror called X the Unknown, released in 1956 and characterized by typical British finesse and aplomb. To quote myself:

"When a platoon of British soldiers discovers a subterranean source of radiation somewhere in a desolate Scottish moor—hey, what the hell is a moor, anyway? I can never remember—it’s different from a down, right? What about a glen? Man, this British landscape stuff just kills me. It’s not a loch, though, I know that much. Lochs are watery, I’m pretty sure—anyway, things get ugly fast. But not nearly as ugly as the soldier who discovers the thing, and the guy who tries to save him, both of whom come out of the experience suffering varying degrees of burns and, um, death."

And so on. There's much more, as usual, including the best line of dialogue, a suitable party game, and the moral of the story ("Radiation doesn't kill people. People with radiation kill people.") You can read the whole column here. And as always, Facebook Likes and Tweets are appreciated. 

Thrift store score, part II: The Metal Years

Following our  lava-lamp thrift store haul from a few days ago see below), Uzee and I hit a Goodwill shop in Hadley and walked off with yet more loot:

For the record, that's a previously unworn (though I'm wearing it as I type this) New England Patriots T-shirt. In case you're wondering, I know it's unworn because it still had the "official NFL product" sticker attached to it. Damage: $1. Also, a pair of stylish coffee mugs, one brick red, one florally adorned. Damage for both: $1.53. (Not sure how the girl at the counter came up with that figure, but okay.) And finally, the grand prize: Webster's Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language, 300,000+ entries. Damage: $5.

The rug, unfortunately, was not found at Goodwill, and so cost considerably more. Worth it, though. Not sure how many secondhand rugs I want in my living room...

Country fairs and border collies

Yesterday Uzee and I drove an hour or so to take in the Heath County fair, a truly down-home experience involving goat competitions, rabbit hutches and home-made maple syrup. Far and away the best part of the fair, though, was the border collie domonstration, which featured a trio of completely undisciplined dogs and another trio of utterly bewildered ducks.

This is a picture of Maude, the least utterly-undisciplined of the pooches, but still very much a girl with a mind of her own. As you can see, she keeps her eyes on the prize -- in this case, a duck -- even as the ducks do their best to elude her. In theory, Maude wa ssupposed to herd these ducks around the ring, through a wire tube, up a ramp and down into a wading pool. In actuality, this never happened.

But it was fun to watch...

What came in the mail yesterday

Yup... got my author copies of An Age of Madness, and I have to say, it looks pretty amazing. Red Hen did a nice job and the book is a pleasure to hold and leaf through. (And, I hope, to read, but that's another story.) These are the exact copies I'll be selling in New York on September 14th at Book Thug Nation in Brooklyn, and on the 16th at KGB Lit Bar. Ten bucks each! Can't beat it!

Scoring big at the thrift shop

So, Wednesday night was my first night at the new job, working overnights at a group home, which is the kind of thing I did years ago (and which, ironically enough, fed directly into the writing of my latest book, An Age of Madness). The shift went great, the guys living in the house are terrific, my co-workers are impressive, and the house itself is beautiful. So that's all great.

I went home and crashed out for an hour or two before reviving myself and tooling off with Uzee to nearby Turners Falls, hoping to score a couple of funky mugs for our breakfast tea/coffee. We had our sights set on a thrift store in town which we'd been told harbored no shortage of funky stuff, and we informed correctly. To wit:

That's right: You are looking at not one but two Lava Lamps, the first a handsome blue filled with glittering silver stars that twirl hypnotically, and the second the more familiar magenta/pink that gurgles with vaguely organic lumps of waxy substance that rise and fall in the reddish murk. They are both totally awesome. I'll put mine (the red one) in my study once I get some furniture to put it on, and Uzee plans to relocate hers to her office at work. Damage: $8 each.

Careful observers will note also the set of 6 pristine beer steins in the foreground. These are made of wafer-thin glass and I think had never been used -- they still had their manufacturer stickers on them. We cleaned them up nicely and, uh, tried them out last night. And they do a fine, fine job of holding beer in place long enough to consume it, which is pretty much everything you want in a beer stein. Damage: $2.

We are looking for more thrift stores in Amherst today. This is a mighty fun way to spend a sunny afternoon.

Terrific review for An Age of Madness

The Next Best Book Blog has seen fit to deliver a five-star review to the new book, which I appreciate trremendously. Click the link to see the whole review, which does contain something of a spoiler, but which is awful sweet nonetheless.

I'm glad TNBBC like the book, as they are the sponsor of my upcoming events in New York City, on 7/14 at Book Thug Nation in Brooklyn and on 7/16 at KGB Lit Bar in Manhattan. TNBBC's head honcho Lori will be there at both events, and will say a few words, so if you can stop by you can not only say hi to me but also to her, and you can tell her what a fine job she's doing on her blog. And she is indeed doing a fine job, recently receiving tweets from literary bigwigs such as Neil Gaiman, Margaret Atwood and Christopher Moore.

Clearly, Lori is on the verge of something big here. I think it's safe to say you can trust her judgment, in this as in all things lit-related. Of course, I'm biased...

WORDSTOCK details

I've gotten some timely details from the fine folks over at Wordstock, the big literary fair/festival in Portland, OR this October. I will be participating with a reading on Sunday, October 14, at 1:00 in the afternoon, and I'll be reading from the new book, An Age of Madness.

I'll be sharing my hour-long time slot with a fellow named Gregory Spatz, who has written a mighty interesting-looking book called Inukshuk (even the title's a killer), which you can read about on Amazon. This sounds like a pretty trippy book, and it will be fun to meet Gregory and hear him read.

So if you're going to be in the area, please stop by and say howdy. I am still waiting on confirmation/details about other events in the NW/California area, but this seems definite now and will serve as sort of the anchor for the rest of my time out there. Hope to see you somewhere along the line...

An Age of Madness reading at New England Mobile Book Fair

First of all, you're probably as confused as I was. But "Mobile Book Fair" is a misnomer -- NEMBF is actually a bricks & mortar book store in Newton, Massachusetts, that has been around for a very long time. In the old days they used to send trucks out to different neighborhoods, or something. Hence the "mobile." Or something. I admit to being slightly confused (slightly?), in this as in so many other things.

You can read more about them on their website here.

BUT: The important thing is that I will be doing an event there on Friday, October 26 at 7:00pm. Mark your calendars, etc. I gather NEMBF is a pretty rocking place -- they claim to stock over 1,000,000 books, all new, all discounted, and they seem very enthusiastic about what they do. So even if the thought of hearing me read from my totally excellent new novel leaves you shrugging, you should come check out the place anyhow. It sounds pretty majestic.

On a less-thrilling note, my event at Millrace Books in Farmington, CT (aka "my hometown") has been postponed. This is because the shop itself is closing up/has closed up. After 40-odd years, the lovely Jan Owens decided that keeping the place open was just not viable anymore. BUT! The space is still home to Jan's other project, the Farmington Valley Literary Arts Council, which continues to host events and workshops every month. It is very possible that I will be able to do some sort of Madness-related event there in the fall or winter. It's just a question of working out the logistics. Stay tuned.

A triple-shot of Don't Open That Door!

With all the frenetic activity engendered by moving several thousand miles, from Hawaii to Massachusetts, I have been sadly lax in keeping loyal readers up to date with my offerings over at PopMatters. My weekly column, Don't Open That Door!, has racked up three new entries since I last highlighted it here. To wit:

1955 space opera This Island Earth, which features, among much else, decent special effects and blazing-hot color! Followed by:

Another John Agar camp-fest, The Mole People, showcasing not one but two species of semi-humanoid underground dwellers; and finally,

the ultra-awful Prehistoric Women, which isn't quite as funny as it should be but is nonetheless fascinating in a weird, awful, watching-a-car-crash-in-slow-motion kind of way. This is the 1950 movie, by the way, not the 1967 entry.

So take a look, Like 'em and Tweet 'em and G+ 'em and whatever else you like to do. I'm having great fun with these & I hope you are too...

The coolest folks in Millers Falls...

(...well, apart form us, of course...)

...must be the fine guys over at Element Brewing Company. Pictured below is the ever-helpful Dan, who kindly welcomes Uzee and myself into town the other other day, set us up with a few mightily tasty beer shots, gave us an impromptu tour of the brewery (a converted Post Office, I believe) then chatted with us for a while before sending us on our way, burdened only with a couple of bottles of excellent dark beer and a seasonal oatmeal ale. Plus a couple of T-shirts. It was, in all, a terrific little interlude and a sweet way to feel slightly more at home here.

In fact, there seems to be piles of great beer here, much of it produced by tiny little hole-in-the-wall microbreweries, which have their own devoted followings: The People's Pint in Greenfield, the Berkshire Brewing Company, and many more. Not sure what's contributing to this density of breweries in such a small area, but believe me I'm not arguing.

Our first week in Massachusetts, and a nice review for Age of Madness

We're still in the process of settling in here in the sometimes-sunny northeast, but we have the good fortune of living in a town with its own microbrewery (more on that tomorrow).

Meanwhile, the sensible folks over at the Not Another Book Review blog have seen fit to give An Age of Madness a fairly stellar review, despite calling it "thinking woman's chick-lit" -- um, okay -- and saying that "Maine has written a commercial novel by blasting the formula." I think that's a compliment. That's a compliment, right? Elsewhere, the reviewer states: "The author's brilliance is to show not just the tortured conscience of this profoundly ethical woman but her unexpectedly generous heart." Hey, that's definitely a compliment!

Many thanks to NABR for the generous review. I recommend the site to anyone seeking out thoughtful reviews of serious books, as this person seems to take the whole writing/reading/thinking about stuff seriously...

Our last day in Hawai'i

Well, that was kind of  tough title to write.

Uzee and I are flying out of Honolulu tomorrow, after four sometimes-great, sometimes-frustrating years. I prefer to dwell on the positives--like the islands' beauty, the ocean, the sea life, the turtles, and especially my many fine students--rather thn the negatives, which pretty much amount to all the reasons we are leaving. To our friends here: thanks. You know who you are.

Anyway, the exciting news is that we're heading for western Massachusetts, home of apple cider, intensely beautiful fall colors, and a thriving music scene (yay!) as well as unpleasant winters (boo!) which we'll both just have to (re)learn to live with. We're actually both pretty excited and ready for the move; it feels like the right thing to do.

"Right" isn't the same thing as "easy," though. It's an especially beautiful day today, whicj just makes it tug a little more. Life, however, trundles on, and will not be denied. The thing to dwell on, I guess, is not that we're leaving, but that we were here in the first place, with four years more than most people ever get.

In honor of our leaving, here's the very first picture we took of our new home back in 2008, as we were flying in to Oahu.

Aloha, and mahalo.

Uzee's new book out in October!

The lovely and talented Uzma Aslam Khan, to whom I have the great good fortune of being married, has just received the almost-final-we-think version of the cover for her forthcoming book, Thinner Than Skin. Behold:

Pretty awesome, eh? The book is due in early October from Interlink Books, and you can read more about it there, or proceed directly to Amazon, where you can pre-order it.

I've had the happy opportunity to read the book already, and trust me it's a corker, so check it out. And for you indie-supporting types (you know who you are), Interlink Books (and its fiction imprint, Clockroot) is a consistently interesting publisher who put out a lot of unusual books by a wide variety of international writers. So they're worth a look as well.

Book Thug Nation, Brooklyn NY, 9/14

Many thanks to Lori over at The Next Best Book Club for creating this fine piece of advertising:

Love the reminder "Books for sale // Bring cash." Hey, books will be just $10, so grab 'em while you can.

As you are probably aware, September 14 is National Cream Filled Doughnut Day, so the event will really be something special. Maybe people will bring cream-filled doughnuts. Or maybe I will. Anything could happen, really. It's that kind of holiday.
Also, for those who can't make it on Friday, I'll be over at KGB Lit Bar on Sunday 9/16, reading along with Kathleen Alcott. Of course--and I know you know this already as well--September 16 is Mexico's Independence Day, which opens up all kinds of possibilities for the KGB event as well.

New tune from The Mast over on Bandcamp

Longtime readers of this blog (that's right--both of you!) will recall my fondness for Brooklyn-based pop duo The Mast, whose first album I reviewed for PopMatters (read it here) and who have lately been uploading new songs for free over at Bandcamp. Their latest, "Seas Across Your Mind" is available for free right here, or you can just click on the video (not really a video, but it does play the song).



If you're interested in seeing what the singer, Haale Gafori, looks like when she's walking around and smiling, take a look at this other video, released late last year:

Don't Open That Door! #5: El Vampiro aka The Vampire (1957)

Who knew that Mexican horror flicks from the 1950s could be so good? Okay, lots of people knew, but never mind that -- the point is that this weeks column over at PopMatters features 1957 Mexican vampire movie El Vampiro, known to us gringos as The Vampire. It's pretty great, and I had a grand old time writing it up for my series, Don't Open That Door! To wit:

"Good natured Marta returns to her home in Mexico’s remote Sierra Negra mountains to visit her sick aunt Eloise; circumstance throws her in with Enrique, a fellow traveler on the same road. Oddly, no one is there to meet her at the station, so she and Enrique bum a lift partway, then go on by foot. Little do they realize that they’re being trailed by a statuesque, black-clad woman who possesses unusual skills such as blinking in and out of existence and raising strong winds just by standing around. When Marta arrives at the house, things get even weirder when it becomes evident that Aunt Eloisa isn’t as sick as originally thought. Heck, she looks better than she has in years! But the real shocker is that Marta’s other beloved aunt, Maria Teresa, is in fact freshly dead and buried. Of course, around here, being “freshly dead and buried” means something slightly different from where the rest of us come from, but that’s another story. Or, hmm, maybe it isn’t."

You can read the whole column here, and you really should, as there are a couple of clips to watch that give a nice feeling for the eerie spookiness (or is it the spooky eerieness?) of the whole enterprise. Plus of course a few jokes and giggles.

As ever, if you find yourself enjoying yourself, please hit the Facebook Like icon, and/or Tweet it or G+ it etc. The more this kind of thing happens, the longer I'll be allowed to play in the sandbox, which is all I ever really wanted to do anyway.

Someday I'll  sit down and try to figure out why iexactly vampires are so perennially popular. It's kind of a mystery to me. As far as movie monsters go, they're probably my least favorite, but obviously, their appeal is widespread and long-lasting. Any thoughts on this are welcome.

Wooden Shjips in-studio live performance

KEXP, Seattle, August 2011. Old guys rule!

Don't ask me about the spelling, though.

"A touchingly human reminder that scar tissue isn't always visible"

Sorry I haven't been posting these last couple days. I've been--you guessed it--packing.

Meanwhile, the reviewers over at Publishers Weekly were kind enough to read An Age of Madness, and then kind enough to write a review that makes it sound like it might be worth reading--but they weren't quite kind enough to avoid the old sting-in-the-tail method of dropping in a last-minute comment to the effect of, "Oh, and it also kind of sucks." To wit:

"Psychiatrist Regina Moss comes on strong in this compassionate, imperfect novel of the surprising, halting ways that the heart and mind heal after tragedy."

(That sounds pretty good, doesn't it? "Surprising" is always nice, and "halting," under the right circumstances, can be mighty effective.)

"Regina works at a 'holding tank for public-sector mentally ill' in a Massachusetts hospital where the afflicted patients’ suffering and symptoms mirror her own troubles, despite her strenuous efforts to keep the effects of personal tragedy at bay through mordant wit and a clinical remove."

(All promising so far. "Mordant wit and clinical remove" ? Sign me up!)

"Regina’s relationship with her college-age daughter is frayed, and the defenses she’s built up allow her to function, if not flourish, years after a terrible personal loss. Two things finally crack Regina open to further waves of grief: her role as dutiful daughter to an ailing father reaches a critical point, and a tenuous affair with a younger subordinate."

(Okay, family tension, I can roll with that. Not a lot of car chases in this book, it doesn't sound like, but that's not always a bad thing.)

"In the deftly sketched Regina, Maine has created a touchingly human reminder that scar tissue isn’t always visible..."

(Nice!)

"...but unwittingly shows how an uneven story can fail to measure up to a well-drawn character."

(WTF?)

Things were going so well, too, right up to that nasty last sentence. Last half-sentence, even.

Oh well. At least they read it, and maybe people will pay attention to the "compassionate" and "surprising" bits about the ""deftly sketched" and "touchingly human reminder that scar tissue isn't always visible." That all sounds pretty good, doesn't it?

Books at NYC events just $10

First of all, I hope everyone got through Friday the 13th all right. We managed to be safe at this end, and I even scored a job interview for early August and had a decent workout at the gym, so there you go. Nothing scary at all. Well, the interview might be...

Meanwhile I'm finalizing arrangements with my publisher about selling An Age of Madness at the two events in New York, on the 14th at Book Thug Nation used bookstore in Brooklyn and on the 16th at KGB Lit Bar in Manhattan. Neither of these places usually sells new books, which mean I'm responsiible for it, which means I can decide the price. And the price I've decided on is just ten bucks a book. This is a significant reduction over the list price, and I'm doing it as a way to say thanks to the people who make the effort to come hear me read at those two places. (Unfortunately, the other events I have lined up are sponsored by new book stores, meaning they will decide the price, and lacking the author discount I get, they will probably have to set it higher.)

So stop on by, listen to whatever I'm reading that night, and grab a copy of the book if you like it. If you don't, well, I'm sure there will be something to grab your interest at Book Thug Nation. And over at KGB, there will be plenty of booze to drown your sorrows and revitalize your hopes. So it's a win-win for everybody!

Don't Open That Door! #4: The Black Scorpion (1957)

Hey, column #4 is up on PopMatters right now! Take a look.

This might be the most outlandish one yet... and I mean that in a good way, of course. Set in Mexico for no apparent reason, this movie features extensive miniature work supervised by Willis O'Brien, the guy who did the trick with 1933's King Kong. Needless to say, the model work is pretty good, and there's also plenty of it.

The human actors, on the other hand...

Here's the start of the column:

"Unprecendented earthquakes are raining destruction—not to mention ash and lava—down onto Mexico, and it’s up to heroic geologists Dr. Scott (you can tell he’s a scientist by his pipe) and Dr. Ramos to visit the benighted area and offer what help they can. Soon they start finding wrecked homes, smashed cars and dead bodies; the town of San Lorenzo is thick with rumors of devil bulls and missing people. Stranger still is the mysterious Senorita Alvarez, a planation owner whose Mexican accent keeps cropping up and then disappearing (and is gone completely after the first half hour). There’s nothing to be done, of course, except to stand around wondering what the heck’s going on, which everyone does for far too long. Especially once the little kid shows up..."

Read the rest here. And of course, Facebook Likes and shared links are much appreciated, as are Tweets and Google+ +1s and everything else. Thanks folks!

Age of Madness page on Facebook

Hey, the busy folks over at Red Hen Press have give me my very own Facebook page for An Age of Madness, and I ivite you to trot on over there and take a look. It would be mighty nice of you to Like the page, share the link, and spread the word about the new book, which is now--can this be true?--only about six and a half weeks away from launching.

The Facebook page also has a link to my Red Hen page, which in turn takes you to their other authors and books, as well as upcoming events, book signings, and reviews. It's all well worth a look, maybe more than one. Cheers!

"Kora Rocks" by Ba Cissoko

Yes. it does.

In keeping with my promise to try to post things that are more interesting than photographs of packing boxes, I invite you to enjoy this utterly stomping vid of Guinean kora maestro Ba Cissoko and his band. I love the electrified, wah-wah kora that solos toward the end (and can be heard early on too). Holy smoke this thing cooks.

I wouldn't lie to ya.

Well, not about this, anyway. About other stuff? Well, yes, definitely.

Yup--I've been packing. Still have plenty to do, but my books/records/desk stuff are all pretty much contained in those boxes. Next up, living room. Later on: clothes and kitchen. Also, Uzee's stuff. You get the idea.

I will strive to make my blog entries for the coming month more interesting than, "Hey, look at these boxes of stuff waiting to be taken away." But I can't promise anything. This is more or less what's going on with us for the time being...

This is what I'm doing today. And tomorrow most likely.

Yup. Packing.

Happy (Algerian) Independence Day

50 years ago today, Algeria gained independence from France after a long and violent struggle. A couple of films worth watching on the subject are The Battle of Algiers (great movie, 1967, black and white, terrific performances) and Outside the Law (2010, also good performances somewhat controversial, nominated for an Academy Award).

Many self-appointed experts like to blather on about how Arabs, or Muslims in general, lack either the will to fight for freedom or the good sense to even want it. "A strong hand is the only thing they understand," is the sort of thing you hear on Fox News, but unfortunately you hear it a lot of other places too, generally spoken by someone who has never set foot un a Muslim country, much less lived in one. The experience of Algeria, along with Iran in the 1950s (when Mossadegh won an election, only to be removed by the US and UK at the behest of the oil companies), Pakistan under its various military rulers and Iraq right this very fucking second show this complacent and self-congratulatory Western mindset to be the bullshit that it is. Not to mention: Bangladesh in 1971, Turkey in the 1920s, Palestine since 1948, Kashmir, Indonesia, Egypt, Syria, etc.

It's also great that French filmmakers and producers have been able to look at their unsavory role in Algeria with some measure of balance and self-awareness. One day, maybe, Americans will be able to do the same with Iraq and Afghanistan. I'm not holding my breath, but maybe eventually... Hey, I can dream.

25 years in, still going strong...

It was 1988 or 89 that I first heard the Cowboy Junkies Trinity Session, while a grad student in Arizona, and like many people, I was knocked out. (I did have one friend refer to it as "boring," but in an almost apologetic way, as if she knew that hers was an unpopular minority opinion, at least among my circle.) "Sweet Jane" was/is a killer song, of course, but I grew to love a lot of the record just as much, with songs like "Walking After Midnight" and "Misguided Angel." I gave a copy to Uzee -- a casette! Remember those? --  as we were just starting to date, and she loved it too.

Subsequently we bought a few more records, with mixed results. I really like Miles From Our Home and Pale Sun Crescent Moon, but am much less crazy about Open. Somehow I managed to altogether miss Lay It Down, which -- according to Amazon commenters anyway -- seems to be widely regarded as their best album.



I bring up the Junkies because we've just bought a 5-disc set called The Nomad Series, which is available on Amazon for a ridiculously low price, and because Uzee and I are scheduled to see them in Northampton, at the Iron Horse, about a week after we relocate to Massachusetts. (Things like this will, we hope, make our adieu from Hawaii a little easier than it might otherwise be.) The Nomad series is a set of four albums released over 18 months, which is a prodigious amount of work by anyone's standards, and the kind of output you more commonly see from fresh young bands just starting out rather than rock & roll veterans who might be expected to rest on their accomplishments. The accompanying booklet explains that the band, not ablt to decide which direction to move in for their next album, instead decided to release four albums, and imposed the 18-month limit on themsleves in order to prevent the project from just meandering away.

I

I've listened to three of the five abums so far (there a bonus disc of "extras" thrown into the package) and they're terrific. I particularly like Demons, a set of songs by Vic Chestnutt (whom I knew nothing about before thise), and Sing in My Meadow, which is pretty fuzzy and grungy and raucous.

Taken together, this set is pretty inspiring. As a writer, I've been in print for something like eight years. These guys have been recording and releasing records for three times that long, and they appear to be a long way from running out of ideas. So thanks, guys. I appreciate your verve.

And we'll see you at The Iron Horse.

More events lining up... (maybe)

File under Possible False Alarms But I Hope Not:

The Wordstock Festival, which I'll be attending in October in Portland, OR (aka "The Microbrew Capital of America") may or may not be asking me to host a writing seminar. This would be about an hour and 15 minutes. The topic I have submitted for their consideration is "Stories as Trains, Stories as Mosaics." Catchy, huh? We'll see if they go for it.

And... The Bookstore Co-Op at the University of Connecticut in scenic Storrs, CT, has asked me to do a reading there as well. Hooray for homegrown support! This will in all likelihood happen in November, after both the west coast events in Oct and the other NYC/CT events in September. Listen, at some point everythin will be finalized and I'll, I don't know, put up a schedule or something. But this is just a heads-up...

In other news: Happy July! June saw the largest total of monthly posts on this blog by far. I have been rewarded by a good number of new visitors daily as well as a steady stream of returnees. Thanks! I will strive to keep the news and entertainment forthcoming, to make it worth your while to return here often.

Some serious bass on these...

...Courtesy of my favorite music blog, Voodoo Funk:

(Click on the name, Tex Soul & the Bayonets, to get taken to their Soundcloud page. Then click the "Play" arrow)

Dont't Open That Door! #3: Missile to the Moon

This week's column over at PopMatters.com covers a movie that's close to my heart: 1959's Missile to the Moon, which is a particularly ridiculous remake of 1953's Cat-Women of the Moon -- did it really need to be remade so soon? Anyway, Missile features all manner of extraordinary elements, like a James Dean wannabe and a bevy of lunar maidens played by "former beauty contest winners." (Can't beat that.) The story is suitably ludicrous and the laughs just keep coming. Here's my first paragraph:

"Wacky home-school advocate and part-time scientist Dirk Green has a dream: to be the first arch-conservative in space. To make his dream come true, he must overcome numerous obstacles, including an intrusive US government (keen to keep space exploration for itself) and a pair of even more intrusive juvenile delinquents Gary and Lon (keen to keep other peoples’ cars for themselves). When these delinquents break out of jail and take refuge in the spaceship that Dirk’s got cluttering up his backyard, hilarity ensues—or all hell breaks loose, depending on your point of view. Meanwhile, those nanny-state Feds want Dirk to quell his cosmic aspirations, but when he grabs his NRA-approved personal firearm and goes stalking off into the night, it seems like he might have other plans."

Read the rest here, and do me a favor: Like it on Facebook, Tweet about it on Twitter, +1 it on G+ or Reddit or StumbleUpon or whatever you'd like. Thanks!

Where Writers Write on TNBBC

Hey, the supernaturally-energetic Lori over at The Next Best Book Club has included me ina feature called "Where Writers Write." I sent her a 90-second video about my (ahem) work space, as well as a few comments. Ironically, I'm set to be departing this particular space before long, so this is just about obsolete even as it goes online, but what the heck... It's where I've spent some time polishing up An Age of Madness as well as some other stuff, so take a look.

And by all means, check out the rest of the blog as well, read a review or two, leave a comment, but a T-shirt, and support independent authors and people (like Lori) who read and promote them.

BTW, this is the same Lori who has set up reading events for my in NYC this September -- at Book Thug Nation in Brooklyn on Sept 14 and KGB Lit Bar on the 16th. She is truly a friend to writers and deserves your support, so check out the blog!

Afrolicious, "Revolution"

Why I love Hiroshige

Actually, that's a misleading title for this post. I'm not going to try to explain why I love Hiroshige. I just do.

Yesterday, Uzee and I went to the Honolulu Academy of Arts, which is hosting an exhibition of Hiroshige prints taken from his series "53 Stations of the Tokaido." We saw multiple examples of numerous prints from this series, including the ones pictured here. They're gorgeous, and far more striking in person, of course.

Hiroshige's prints were made from wood blocks, so they could be reproduced and sold in book form. This means that there are tones of them floating around -- they aren't one-of-a-kind objects like, say, Picasso paintings or something. But it also means that the quality varies from print to print, as do the colors, the quality of the lines and so forth.

Someday (sigh) I hope to have one or two of his prints hanging in my house. (Yeah, someday I'll have a house, too.) In the meantime, it's great to be able to walk into a museum and just be surrounded by scenes like this.

Mehdi Hassan RIP

Mehdi Hassan was one of Pakistan's greatest singers of ghazals, a form of poetry that goes back for centuries. He was a big favorite of my father-in-law, who knew him, and also of Uzee's. He passed on away on June 13.

This is my favorite song of his. "Rafta Rafta Woh Meri hast" means something like, "Slowly slowly she became a part of me" or "she became my reason to live." It's a beautiful song, even if your Urdu is a little rusty.



One translastion, as provided by the person (lolfrompak) who uploaded this YouTube link:

Rafta rafta woh meri hasti ka saamaan ho gaye,
Subtly and gradually, she became the reason for my existence

Pehlay jaan, phir jaan-e-jaan, phir jaan-e-jaana ho gaye
First my life, then the love of my life, finally she became the beloved of my life

Din-b-din badti gehin is husn ki raaniyaan.
Day by day, her beauties gracefulness increased

Pehlay Gul, phir gul-badan, phir gul-badamaan ho gaye
First she smelt like a rose, then she transformed into a rose, finally she became the greatest rose

Aap to nazdeek say nazdeek-tar aatay gahey
You kept coming closer and closer to me

Pehlay dil, phir dilruba, phir dil kay mehmaan ho gaye
First my heart, then my sweetheart, finally she took abode in my heart

Rafta rafta woh meri hasti ka saamaan ho gaye
Subtly and gradually, she became the reason for my existence

Pyar jab Hadd se badha saare Taqaloof mith gaye
When love transcended its limit, all formalities were erased

Aap se phir tum huay phir tu ka Khunwaan hogaye
First we were formal, then we became informal, finally we became one.

Mark your calendars...

Some more events lined up for this fall, as I do publicity for my new book, An Age of Madness:

I will be appearing at Book Thug Nation in Brooklyn, NY, on Friday, September 14. This will be either 7pm or 7:30, not sure which. BTN is a used book store in Brooklyn which regularly hosts events, and they have kindly consented to let me sell the new book there. So if you're in the area, stop on by.

Meanwhile, on the west coast, I've been ivited to read at Wordstock, a big book/literary festival in Portland, OR. This makes me mighty happy, as Portland is pretty much my favorite city in the USA. I'm not sure exactly when I'll be there, but the festival runs from October 11 - 14.

There are tentative plans for me to read at The Elliot Bay Book Company in Seattle around that same time as well, and also some places in California. I will post those dates as they become firm.

There is also the event at KGB Lit Bar in Manhattan on Sunday, September 16, as well as Millrace Book Shop in Farmington, CT on the following Sunday (the 23rd). So I hope that anyone interested can manage to stop by one of these places. My publicist and myself are still trying to line up more events, so if these don't work for you, stay tuned.

I will miss this.

File under cruel ironies: as Uzee and I gear up to leave Honolulu, the flowers on our patio are going berserk.

We've had mixed success with orchids during the four years we've been here, but since moving to our new place in 2010, there have been more successes than filures. And a couple of the plants, in particular, have really loved it here.

Now, the healthy plants are going nuts. It's safe to say that there won't be a lot of flowers like this where we're heading. Sure, there will be plenty of flowers... just not too many orchids growing wild on the front porch.

Even our cactus is blooming. How often does that happen?

Don't Open That Door! Bride of the Gorilla

Yowza, the second installment of my weekly column over at PopMatters.com, Don't Open That Door!, is up and running. This week's entry is the 1951 opus Bride of the Gorilla, starring raymond Burr, who would go on to TV glory as Perry Mason and Ironsides (and who would appear in the American version of Japan's 1956 monster-fest Godzilla). It's an oddly hilarious movie. To quote myself:

"Bodacious blonde Dina van Gelder is married to elderly, unsatisfying Klaas van Gelder and tucked away in a remote rubber plantation somewhere in the Amazon. (Hmm, “Gelder” sounds a lot like “gelding,” meaning “one who’s been castrated.”) Dina is bored and sweaty in the jungle and gets easily distracted by things like Klaas’s foreman, Barney, who is doing his best to create an love triangle of Amazonian proportions. (Hmm, “Barney” sounds a lot like “Barney,” meaning “purple dinosaur who loves children.”) What he doesn’t realize is that friendly Dr Viet also has a burning (though Platonic, we think) love for Dina—making this love triangle into a love quadrangle—while svelte serving girl Larina is hot for Barney. So it’s actually a love quintangle. (Quintangle, indeed.) Everybody keeping up? Spooky jungle-witch woman Al-long occupies herself by keeping an eye on things, which is probably just as well, seeing as how there’s all this drama and nobody’s even turned into a gorilla yet."

You can read the whole article here here, and you really should. Don't forget to Like it on Facebook, share the link, Tweet about it, +1 it on G+ or whatever it is you do tp spread the word about happy things. Thanks!