The Shatnerverse

William Shatner.  Love him or hate him, he's ubiquitous & larger than life.  This 80-year old sci-fi icon is always juggling his many hats: actor, author, spokesperson, equestrian, self-promoter. A keyword search of his name brings up 34 items in the library catalog that he's been involved in on some level, from The Encyclopedia Shatnerica to Over the Hedge to Star Trek: I'm Working on That - A Trek from Science Fiction to Science Fact.

Like the Energizer Bunny, Shatner just keeps going...and going...and going.  ABC Libraries features 3 brand-spanking-new items by William Shatner in the catalog in 3 different mediums!  They are:

Shatner Rules: Your Guide to Understanding the Shatnerverse and the World at Large
Nobody works his personal mythology better than Shatner. A tongue-in-cheek guide for living which features rules for common & uncommon situations, including turning 80, & "Fun Factners".

The Captains, a film by William Shatner
A vanity project, but one that diehard Trekkers won't want to miss! Shatner "travels around the globe to interview the elite group of actors who have portrayed the role of Enterprise Captain, giving fans an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the pop culture phenomenon".

Seeking Major Tom
As Amazon.com puts it, "William Shatner returns to the final frontier of music recording with this space-themed concept album that boldly goes where no man has gone before!"  This 2-disc music CD includes Shatneriffic covers of "Space Oddity", "Rocket Man", "She Blinded Me with Science", even Duran Duran's "Planet Earth". The supporting cast includes Lyle Lovett, Bootsy Collins, Sheryl Crow, & Peter Frampton.

It's time to accept it.  We are living in the Shatnerverse. Might as well live as large as Shatner.

Part of the library world

On Wednesday, November 23, a small statue disappeared from the front of the Juan Tabo library. It depicted a boy reading, and its name was Shaun, after the grandson of the artist, Rebecca Stover, who made and donated it. The news covered the theft--you can see the reports via the Juan Tabo facebook here--but it's hard to convey what the loss meant to the people who use the library. The statue stood out of the sightline of workers, and it was patrons who first noticed the disappearance. "Where is the boy outside?" a child asked, looking deeply concerned. "What happened to the boy?" an adult asked, angry.

For nearly eight years, the statue sat quietly under under its tree near the library door. He was a familiar face as people came in and out, and a reading companion for countless children. He was special to his creator, who made him in honor of her grandson, and he was special to all of the library visitors whose day he brightened.

Will his disappearance alter library service? Make it more difficult to obtain the materials you need? Of course not--but his absence is a change nevertheless.

Libraries aren't just the sum of their functions. They're also places that people develop emotional attachments to, places that are part of the community. Juan Tabo had Shaun; we still have our blue and gold dinosaur and our puppet show and our ever-growing rogue's gallery of stuffed animals. Cherry Hills has Clifford, reigning from atop the children's shelves, and the puzzle piece floor mats. These gifts from our friends have found homes, and brought happiness both to children and to adults.

Every library has some special place, some special sight, that its patrons look forward to when they come in. It may not be anything you think of as special. I remember the fine polished dark wood tables in my childhood library, and the smell of the cleaner they used on them. On the other hand, they may be fabulous--Boston has a three dimensional mural by John Singer Sargent. But humble or out-of-this-world, the physical world of the library becomes part of the world of its community.

And the community feels it when those small things are lost.

One of Those Malibu Nights by Elizabeth Adler

For our next book review in the Oceans 11 reading challenge, here's a few words from library patron & friend of abcreads Susan:

One of Those Malibu Nights, first book in the Mac Reilly series, is set in modern-day Malibu, Baja California, Palm Springs, Rome, Cannes, and the French countryside. The story's characters belong to the "jet set": Hollywood stars and moguls, millionaires with mansions, and the people who work for them. Protagonist Mac Reilly is a television actor private eye. His girlfriend Sunny (Sonora Sky Coto de Alvarez) wishes Mac would propose.

Mac lives in a Malibu Colony bungalow with his dog Pirate, rescued from a highway. While strolling on the beach late at night, Mac hears a woman scream and goes to help. She shoots at him and he flees. Next day millionaire Ron Perrin, in whose house the woman screamed, denies the event but wants to hire Mac to discover who has been following him. Allie Ray, the movie star wife Ron is divorcing, also wants to hire Mac to discover who has been following her, and sending threatening notes.

While he is vacationing in Rome with Sunny, Mac encounters the woman who had screamed and shot at him in Malibu. Marisa tells him she is Ron's fiancee, flaunts a huge diamond ring, and asks Mac to find Ron, who has disappeared.

When Mac returns from Rome, Ron's right-hand man Sam Demarco also asks Mac to find Ron, and to find out what the FBI wants from Ron.

Famous movie star Allie Ray had humble beginnings, and she is lonely surrounded by luxury. She plans to return to being Mary Allison Raycheck one day. But first she must do her job: appear in Cannes at her film release party.

Mac meets another PI who thinks Ron killed his girlfriend. Sunny and Mac travel to Palm Springs looking for clues and find a body. They investigate all the people in Ron's and Allie's lives, wondering who might carry a grudge.

Allie Ray escapes fame & fortune to the French countryside, where she works in a restaurant. She becomes interested in a local landowner, but still misses and loves her husband.

Sunny goes on trip by herself to Baja CA and finds Ron, but then loses him.

Sunny and Mac go back to Rome, where they find another body. One of Allie's friends tells Sunny where Allie is, just before a newspaper reporter tells the world. Mac finally learns who the killer is, and races to save Allie and Sunny in France.

I found the book shallow and many descriptions melodramatic. It likely appeals to readers who follow movie stars and celebrities. The author uses dogs and their relationships with their owners to illustrate shallow lives as well as true-blue characters. Mac and Sunny will continue investigating together and jet-setting around the world, but I don't plan to read any more of the series.

Doctor Who TV premiere anniversary!

On November 23, 1963, sci-fi cult classic Doctor Who premiered on British TV with William Hartnell taking the helm as the first Doctor. Since then, there have been ten more incarnations of the famous Doctor, including actors of note such as Peter Davison [All Creatures Great and Small], Paul McGann [Withnail & I], & Christopher Eccleston [Lennon Naked], as well as the preferred Doctor for my generation, Tom Baker.  Currently, the Doctor is played by Matt Smith.

Wikipedia describes Doctor Who thusly: "The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior appears as a blue police box. Along with a succession of companions, he faces a variety of foes while working to save civilisations, help people, and right wrongs. The programme is listed in Guinness World Records as the longest-running science fiction television show in the world."

If you have never experienced Doctor Who, don't know what a Time Lord is, & have never dreamed of owning your own TARDIS, now is a great time to get acquainted.  Season 7 (current seasons are counted back to 2005, when Doctor Who became possibly the first sci fi adventure to get a "reboot") has just begun this fall, & the show's 50th anniversary will be feted in 2013.





ABC Libraries' catalog has some materials to welcome you to the Whoniverse:

• The Doctor Who Encyclopedia
• Apollo 23 [Dr. Who 40] by Justin Richards
• Doctor Who: The Evil of the Daleks (book on CD)
• Doctor Who: The Reign of Terror (book on CD)
• Heart of Stone: Death Riders [Dr. Who 1] by Trevor Baxendale (eBook)
• Doctor Who: Tales from the Tardis. v. 1 (eAudioBook)
• Doctor Who: Adventures in History (eAudioBook)

Some links to get you started:

Dr. Who - The Official Site

Dr. Who Fun & Games

Dr. Who: The Original Scarf

Dr. Who on YouTube

Patricia McKillip

One of my favorite fantasy authors is Patricia McKillip. I first saw The Riddle-Master of Hed in a bookstore in the late 1970s, but I did not start reading her books until The Book of Atrix Wolfe.  It is the story of a powerful mage and how his magical creation destroyed both the invading army threatening Pelucir and the soldiers defending the land.  It also cost the Queen of the Wood her daughter Saro when the fairyworld was torn asunder by Atrix's magic.  He disappears and is not seen for twenty years, but circumstances will soon evolve that will bring him back to solve the mystery of what happened all these years ago.  It is not a very long book, but the prose is quite beautiful and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  It went on to be nominated for the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Literature in 1996. 

Since then every book she has written has either been nominated, a finalist or a winner for the Mythopoeic Awards, a Nebula Award nominee, a World Fantasy Award winner and a Locus Award nominee.  While many fantasy authors write long, epic novels, Patricia's books are small, compact and powerful.  Highly recommended!

While a majority of her titles are adult, she has also written some young adult and children's novels and the library catalog has the following books:

The Riddle-Master trilogy (published in the late 1970s)

• The Riddle-Master of Hed
• The Heir of Sea and Fire
• The Harpist in the Wind

The Cygnet Duology (published in the early 1990's)

• The Sorceress and the Cygnet
• The Cygnet and the Firebird

Some individual works include:

The Forgotten Beasts of Eld

Winter Rose

Song for the Basilisk

The Tower at Stony Wood

Ombria in Shadow

In the Forests of Serre

Alphabet of Thorn

Old Magic

Harrowing the Dragon

Solstice Wood

The Bell at Sealey Head

The Bards of Bone Plain


Also, the cover art for a lot of her recent works is by renowed fantasy artist Kinuko Y. Craft and you can find more information about her here.

'Tis the Season for...New Holiday Music!

The ABC Libraries' music selectors have been ordering plenty of seasonal music for your holiday enjoyment!  Here are some new offerings:

Yeshiva Boys Choir Chanukah

Song of Solstice, Jennifer Cutting's Ocean Orchestra

Joy to the World, Pink Martini

The Singing Saw at Christmastime, Julian Koster (of Neutral Milk Hotel)

Baroque Christmas

Welcome Yule: An English Christmas Revels

Savoy Christmas Blues

Audite, Silete!, Divina Musica

As It Fell on Holie Eve: Music for an Elizabethan Christmas, Julianne Baird & Parthenia

For more new music, holiday or otherwise, visit the New Music LibGuide.

Also, if you are a fan of holiday music, make sure you check out these library system events in November & December:

Stylings of the Season at Taylor Ranch
Lyndon B. Johnson Middle School Advanced Chamber Ensemble performs seasonal music!

Rocky Mountain Cowboy Christmas with "Buffalo Bill" Boycott
Join "Buffalo Bill" Boycott as he offers Holiday songs, poems, and entertaining skits in the festive spirit of the cowboys and pioneers of the Old West. Buffalo Bill performs on the fiddle, banjo, mandolin, and guitar!

Nutcracker Ballet Demonstration
Young dancers from the New Mexico ballet company will be demonstrating selections from the holiday favorite, The Nutcracker. Their presentation will also include some information about ballet dancing as well.

Children's Books

There are many great things about children's books, even for adults. The rhythms are soothing, the pictures are beautiful, and the stories have a light and easy quality to them that can be hard to find in adult books. However, when getting recommendations for children's books, the same titles tend to be repeated again and again. The classically great will always be in style, but here are some wonderful children's books that may have fallen below your radar.

For some fun books to read aloud try children's poetry as a way to introduce children to new words. It also makes a nice change of pace from picture books. Edward Lear's Complete Book of Nonsense features poems like "Calico Pie" and "The Jumblies." When We Were Very Young and Now We Are Six by A.A. Milne, author of Winnie The Pooh, feature some of the best poetry written for children. Some of these great poems are "King John's Christmas", "Disobedience" "Busy" and "Us Two". Jack Prelutsky also writes some wonderful books of poetry for children. His poems are good short pieces for kids who are just learning how to read.

Good picture books to try are A Chair for My Mother by Vera B. Williams, which has bold, bright colors, and When the Sun Rose by Barbara Helen Berger with softer, glowing paintings. The Church Mouse by Graham Oakley features pictures that are lively and detailed, with much of the story being discernible only through the pictures. Under the Greenwood Tree: Shakespeare for Young People by Pat and Robin DeWitt has short excerpts from Shakespeare, accompanied by gorgeous illustrations. To Everything There Is a Season by Leo and Diane Dillon is a book featuring the verse from Ecclesiastes, with different styles of art on each page. The Girl in the Castle Inside The Museum by Kate Bernheimer is a great fairy tale story with unusual pictures.

For children's books to touch your heart try Outside Over There by Maurice Sendak, or Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney, a book that inspires me to this day with it's seemingly simple task: do something to make the world more beautiful. The Mountains of Tibet by Mordicai Gerstein about a little boy who loves to fly kites gives a soul a second chance to do just that.

Other great books feature a Southwestern theme. Susan Lowell's The Three Little Javelinas, and The Bootmaker and the Elves give an imaginative and colorful twist on classic children's bedtime stories. Another wonderful and inspiring author is Byrd Baylor who lived in Arizona for years and wrote stories that were inspired by the Southwestern desert. Most feature beautiful drawings by Peter Parnall. Two Baylor/Parnall favorites are The Way to Start a Day, and The Desert is Theirs, a book to make you proud to live in the desert.

Children's books are fun to browse through and find your personal favorites. Let yourself get distracted by the pictures, by the words used again and again, by the end that comes too soon. And then, pick it up and read it again!