Mumble Herder

Books 1-10.
Books 11-20.
Books 21-30.
Books 31-40.
Books 41-50.
Books 51-60.
Books 61-70.
71. The Elephant's Secret Sense by Caitlin O'Connell.
72. Bloom County Babylon: Five Years of Basic Naughtiness by Berke Breathed.
73. Moon Called by Patricia Briggs.
74. The End of the Story: The Collected Fantasies of Clark Ashton Smith, Volume 1 by Clark Ashton Smith.
75. Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg.

76. Hmong Means Free: Life in Laos and America by Sucheng Chan. Oral histories collected by Chan--Professor and Chair of Asian American Studies at UC Santa Barbara--and five of her students, about the experiences of the students and their families. Covering life before the "secret" war, the flight from Laos, and emigration to France and the United States. The introductory chapter by Chan, covering the history of the Hmong, specifically with respect to Laos through its various invasions and colonizations, is one of the best summations I've read yet.

Books 1-10.
Books 11-20.
Books 21-30.
Books 31-40.
Books 41-50.
Books 51-60.
Books 61-70.
71. The Elephant's Secret Sense by Caitlin O'Connell.
72. Bloom County Babylon: Five Years of Basic Naughtiness by Berke Breathed.
73. Moon Called by Patricia Briggs.

74. The End of the Story: The Collected Fantasies of Clark Ashton Smith, Volume 1 by Clark Ashton Smith. I think my favorite thing that Nightshade Books does is put out the work of early fantasists like William Hope Hodgson and Lord Dunsany and Mr. Smith here; kudos to them. I've seen CAS referenced many times, but this is my first time reading him. This is the first of five volumes (the fourth has just come out), and while the works in this volume vary in quality--the works are presented in the order of composition, and there's a clear progression at work--I plan to keep reading. The first couple of stories are hilariously purple, so much so that I nearly expected indigo to bleed from the text, but the voice soon settles into a tone that's still erudite, but far more accessible and readable. These stories are pure fantasy on the one hand, dwelling-places of dark magicians and elder gods and weird alien races, but on the other they are fantasy at its most reactionary: not just anti-symbolic and at times anti-scientific, but also anti-psychological. The characters are sketches, the plots are secondary to the wonders on display. Almost more interesting than some of the works are the notes, including excerpts from the apparently copious correspondence between Smith and H.P. Lovecraft. (Lovecraft nicknamed Smith "Klarkash-Ton" in both their correspondence and his own fiction.) Unlike Lovecraft's work, though, which I've always found to be weighted down with a fear of the world outside his front door, Smith's stories have a sensawunda about them even when dark. Faves in this volume include the title story as well as "A Night in Malnéant," "The Tale of Satampra Zeiros," and the last and possibly strongest, the surrealist dream/nightmare "A Voyage to Sfanomoë."

Books 1-10.
Books 11-20.
Books 21-30.
Books 31-40.
Books 41-50.
Books 51-60.
Books 61-70.
71. The Elephant's Secret Sense by Caitlin O'Connell.

72. Bloom County Babylon: Five Years of Basic Naughtiness by Berke Breathed (Re-read). I was in the mood for some Bloom County, and my copy of Loose Tails was lost to water damage, so I started here. Ah, memories. I really enjoy watching the evolution of comic strips over time, as cartoonists bring in new characters and lose interest in old ones--this volume has loads of those soon-abandoned folks, like the strip's namesakes, Major and Bess Bloom. This strip, and particularly the collections, was formative stuff for me, and it's nice to revisit the courtship of Bobby Harlow and Cutter John, the evolution of Opus, the domestic dramas of Oliver and the Banana Jr. 6000, the espionage trial of Bill the Cat, and of course the epic "deaths" of Opus and Cutter John. Now if I could just figure out what happened to that plush Opus I used to have . . .

Books 1-10.
Books 11-20.
Books 21-30.
Books 31-40.
Books 41-50.
Books 51-60.
61. Hmong in Minnesota by Chia Youyee Vang.
62. Myths and Legends of the Sioux by Marie L. McLaughlin.
63. Heir of Sea and Fire (Book Two of the Riddlemaster trilogy) by Patricia McKillip.
64. Sea, Swallow Me and Other Stories by Craig Laurance Gidney.
65. Essential Incredible Hulk Volume 1 by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, et al.
66. I Shall Destroy All the Civilized Planets: The Comics of Fletcher Hanks by Fletcher Hanks and Paul Karasik.
67. Wizard's Eleven (Book Three of The True Game) by Sheri S. Tepper.
68. Migration of Hmong to the Midwestern United States by Cathleen Jo Faruque.
69. Harpist In the Wind (Book Three of the Riddlemaster trilogy) by Patricia McKillip.

70. Essential The Fantastic Four by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, et al. If I'm honest, this was better than I thought it would be. There are caveats, the primary one being the way Stan writes the Invisible Girl; she is forever being kidnapped and rescued, can't decide between dependable but passionless Reed and hunky but erratic Namor, and frequently is ineffective even in situations where her limited power can be used. At one point Stan and Jack have the team answer reader letters, and Sue has a breakdown when she reads one which opines that she doesn't do anything on the team--Reed, Ben, and Johnny come gallantly to her defense, but basically end up saying that she's essential because she has that feminine touch that makes their base feel like home between adventures. Ugh. Now, if you can set that aside, there's a lot of great pulpy, SF-inspired boy's adventure stuff here. It's silly but it's fun, not least because it doesn't take itself too seriously. Plus, the first appearances of Doctor Doom, the Puppet Master, the Mad Thinker (and his Awesome Android AKA Andy), the Skrulls, and the Marvel-era Sub-mariner.

Books 1-10.
Books 11-20.
Books 21-30.
Books 31-40.
Books 41-50.
Books 51-60.
61. Hmong in Minnesota by Chia Youyee Vang.
62. Myths and Legends of the Sioux by Marie L. McLaughlin.
63. Heir of Sea and Fire (Book Two of the Riddlemaster trilogy) by Patricia McKillip.
64. Sea, Swallow Me and Other Stories by Craig Laurance Gidney.
65. Essential Incredible Hulk Volume 1 by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, et al.
66. I Shall Destroy All the Civilized Planets: The Comics of Fletcher Hanks by Fletcher Hanks and Paul Karasik.
67. Wizard's Eleven (Book Three of The True Game) by Sheri S. Tepper.

68. Migration of Hmong to the Midwestern United States by Cathleen Jo Faruque. Demographic research on the impacts of immigration on Hmong in Rochester, Minnesota, done through personal interviews and observation. Most interesting to me were the comments centered around generational conflicts, the ways in which elders become dependent upon American-born or -raised children to act as cultural mediators. Also the finding that some Hmong families felt obligated or even subtly pressured to convert to the faith of the churches which sponsored their resettlement, and the somewhat counter-intuitive observation that those who maintained their own religion seem to cope better with the Americanization of their families.

Books 1-10.
Books 11-20.
Books 21-30.
Books 31-40.
Books 41-50.
Books 51-60.
61. Hmong in Minnesota by Chia Youyee Vang.
62. Myths and Legends of the Sioux by Marie L. McLaughlin.
63. Heir of Sea and Fire (Book Two of the Riddlemaster trilogy) by Patricia McKillip.
64. Sea, Swallow Me and Other Stories by Craig Laurance Gidney.
65. Essential Incredible Hulk Volume 1 by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, et al.

66. I Shall Destroy All the Civilized Planets: The Comics of Fletcher Hanks by Fletcher Hanks and Paul Karasik. Post-Sycamore Hill a few of us spent the afternoon in Asheville and stopped by Malaprop's Bookstore. There, glancing at their graphic novel selection, Colonel Rowe and I were looking at a volume of reprinted nuttiness from '40s comics and came across a story by Fletcher Hanks. We showed it to Alice who, in her knowing way, said that a volume of his work had been reprinted and it was even crazier all at once. And it is. At first glance Hanks' art looks unschooled, almost naive--the proportions of his figures, particularly on Stardust the Super Wizard, are elongated or distorted. But a look at Hanks' villains makes it clear that he's working in the sphere of the grotesque, and a survey of the crimes and punishments he depicts only reinforces that. A mob of criminals launches a hyperbolic assault on New York City; a madman called the Demon sends a thousand-foot wave against it. In both cases--in most of these stories, in fact--the hero waits until after a few (or a few thousand) people have died to intercede, even when they know what's being planned beforehand. Villains are punished by being frozen alive, hurled into space, changed into rats, combined into one body (!), and perhaps craziest of all, turned into a giant head, hurled at a headless space giant, and absorbed into the giant's body. Yeah. AND THEN there's the afterword, in which Karasik, who edited this collection, tells the story (in comic form) of meeting Hanks' son, who enlightens him as to the abusive and drunken nature of his father. This is seriously weird shit, people. By which I mean that you should read it, of course.

Books 1-10.
Books 11-20.
Books 21-30.
Books 31-40.
Books 41-50.
Books 51-60.
61. Hmong in Minnesota by Chia Youyee Vang.
62. Myths and Legends of the Sioux by Marie L. McLaughlin.
63. Heir of Sea and Fire (Book Two of the Riddlemaster trilogy) by Patricia McKillip.

64. Sea, Swallow Me and Other Stories by Craig Laurance Gidney (aka ethereal_lad). (Nominated for a Lambda Literary Award.) Full disclosure: Craig is a friend. He's also a writer with a talent for evocative language, and for stories in which the protagonists are overmatched by emotions they can't understand until they understand themselves. As such, most of these stories are about grappling with identity--with gender, sexuality, and race. Faves from this collection include "Her Spirit Hovering," about a man haunted by his mother both literally and figuratively; "Circus-Boy Without a Safety Net," which posits Lena Horne as both angel and devil to a young man trying to come to terms with his sexuality; and "A Bird of Ice," possibly the most elegantly written of these stories, about a Buddhist monk who learns to expand his definition of the divine.

Books 1-10.
Books 11-20.
Books 21-30.
Books 31-40.
Books 41-50.
Books 51-60.
61. Hmong in Minnesota by Chia Youyee Vang.

62. Myths and Legends of the Sioux by Marie L. McLaughlin. (Link goes to electronic version at the University of Virginia.) This book is from 1916 and I have no way to be sure of the provenance of these stories, but I picked it up because the author says in her foreword that she learned most of them from her grandmother, who was of the Medawakanton Band of Dakota/Sioux tribe; this is the band which was settled in the St. Paul area in the period shortly before the city was founded. A mix of stories, some refined into familiar patterns, some stranger and therefore much more interesting. I am particularly interested in the stories about Unktomi (as it's spelled here: Iktomi is perhaps the standardized spelling) a spider-trickster figure who may or may not be the same or similar to Unktahe, a god of water and the underworld who was supposed to have lived in Wakon-teebe, a holy place which later came to be known as Carver's Cave. More research is required.

Books 1-10.
Books 11-20.
Books 21-30.
Books 31-40.
Books 41-50.
51. Devil In a Blue Dress by Walter Mosley.
52. A Red Death by Walter Mosley.
53. White Butterfly by Walter Mosley.
54. Flora's Dare: How a Girl of Spirit Gambles All to Expand Her Vocabulary, Confront a Bouncing Boy Terror, and Try to Save Califa From a Shaky Doom by Ysabeau Wilce.
55. The Riddle-Master of Hed by Patricia McKillip.
56. James J. Hill and the Opening of the Northwest by Albro Martin.
57. King's Blood Four (Book One of The True Game) by Sheri S. Tepper.
58. Subterranean Twin Cities by Greg Brick.
59. Hey, Hmong Girl, Whassup? The Journal of Choua Vang by Leah Rempel.

60. Necromancer Nine (Book Two of The True Game) by Sheri S. Tepper. These books are so good, people. There are apparently nine of them (three related-but-separate trilogies), and I'm seriously considering picking up the rest of the books as soon as I finish this first trilogy. Tepper's prose is exquisite, and there is some crazy-ass shit in here: a valley of Shifters that reads like a Dali painting of the X-Men's encounters with Legion or Jamie Braddock, Gormenghast-in-a-spaceship, gibbering monsters with surprise feminism . . . I am kind of amazed that I had not heard of this stuff before Kelly Link pressed it upon me. SERIOUSLY IT'S REALLY GOOD READ IT.

Books 1-10.
Books 11-20.
Books 21-30.
Books 31-40.
Books 41-50.
51. Devil In a Blue Dress by Walter Mosley.
52. A Red Death by Walter Mosley.
53. White Butterfly by Walter Mosley.
54. Flora's Dare: How a Girl of Spirit Gambles All to Expand Her Vocabulary, Confront a Bouncing Boy Terror, and Try to Save Califa From a Shaky Doom by Ysabeau Wilce.
55. The Riddle-Master of Hed by Patricia McKillip.
56. James J. Hill and the Opening of the Northwest by Albro Martin.
57. King's Blood Four (Book One of The True Game by Sheri S. Tepper.

58. Subterranean Twin Cities by Greg Brick. Apparently this book created a bit of a stir among the Twin Cities spelunking community--Brick seems to be a bit of controversial figure, which he obliquely acknowledges in certain sections. For me the first two chapters, on Carver's Cave and Fountain Cave, were the most useful. For the rest, I enjoyed the historical accounts but glassed over a bit on the mechanics of worming through utility tunnels and sewers. There was a time I might have thought this stuff would be fun, but Brick's frank descriptions of the conditions of many of these places makes me think I'm probably too squeamish. "Toilet paper volcanoes," folks. Ish.