Review by Robert McCool
It's Monday in a sunny August blur where the world is in full bloom, the weather fine. During the past two days, and in addition to my regular weekend chores, I managed to read two speculative fiction novels where the weather is most definitively not fine.
Those books, Arctic Rising (Tor, ISBN 978-0-7653-1921-0), and Hurricane Fever (Tor, ISBN 978-0-7653-1922-7) byTobias S. Buckell take place in a space where global warming is transforming our world with an undesirable outcome.
Folklore-Taylor Swift
Reviewed by Craig Hoffman
Country and pop-crossover megastar Taylor Swift dropped Folklore her eighth studio album in July. The indie-folk style record was written and recorded by Swift while in quarantine. The artist did her best to stay productive in 2020 despite chaos in the world.
“Most of the things I had planned this summer didn’t end up happening, but there is something I hadn’t planned on that DID happen…” Swift wrote. “And that thing is my 8th studio album, folklore [sic]. Surprise.”
Several photos accompany this story -
By Fred Steiner
This is part of the Icon’s new series on “Forgotten Bluffton” – Swimming in Riley Creek is no doubt something that never interested you.
But, in the 1920’s the village had a designated swimming area constructed in Big Riley Creek for youth in the community.
If you stand near the entrance to Steinmetz Field, turn toward Harmon Field, and take about a dozen steps toward the creek you will see the remnants of a dam. That dam backed up the creek and made a nice sized pool for swimming
Review by Robert McCool
Journey back to 1926 Ohio, Bronwyn County, and solve a questionable death.
Ah, summer. The visceral sun, the weight of humidity. Why not cozy up and chill out in 1926 in the rural Bronwyn County and the Appalachian time of coal country?
In her second book based in this location, Jess Montgomery(The Widows) blesses us with a gem of a story in “The Hollows” (Minotaur Books, ISBN 978-1-250-18454-2).
Gaslighter is the eighth studio album by American country music group The Chicks. It was released on July 17, 2020, by Columbia Records. It is the first work issued by the group since their name change from the Dixie Chicks.
Clocking at 90 minutes, it is a fun romp that might make you think a little. If nothing else, it’s possibly the best direct-to-video movie we could have hoped for in quarantine
Around the world, people have been practicing varying levels of social distancing since March. Movie theaters closed in mid-March and in some cases have reopened slowly, but with a dearth of new films to offer customers. Major studio releases, particularly TENET, have been pushed back, or in limited cases movies like TROLLS: WORLD TOUR were released directly to Video-on-Demand (VOD).
The summer movie season has seen a drought of good new movies.
