So long, Goodbye…

After 265 posts over almost 2 -1/2 years , almost 25,000 hits I am calling it a day. It’s been fun but now it’s time to move on.

I thank  all  those who visited this site ,particularly those who took the time to comment.

So long, goodbye … ciao!!

Truth or Fiction ?… Take the Quiz !

Nowadays, truth is stranger than fiction. So much so that it is difficult to tell what is true and what is not. Of the six stories that follow, five actually happened and were reported in the news. One is  false . Can you tell one is  false  ?

1. SURGEON DEMANDS KIDNEY BACK FROM EX-WIFE

A New York surgeon who donated a kidney to his ex-wife has gone to court to get it back or at least get compensated for it. Dr. Richard Batista (49) gave the organ his wife Dawnell eight years ago when she fell ill. But ,he claims, she repaid him by having an affair and then filing for divorce.Through his lawyer,Batista said he wanted $ 1.5 million for the kidney as part of the divorce , the proceedings of which have dragged on for three years. Legal experts said that the case was unlikely to succeed . Donating an organ is considered a gift; a body part cannot be bought or sold.

2. HORSESHOE CRABS  MAY HOLD SECRET TO DIABETES CURE

Researchers are optimistic that experiments with horseshoe crabs may soon lead to a cure for Type I diabetes. A team of scientists working out of Kenilworth, NJ has found that the blood of horseshoe crabs  contains a protein, Haemocyanin, which stimulates the pancreas and results in an increased production of insulin. Insulin is used by our bodies to convert sugar, starch and other foods into the energy needed for daily life; when the body does not produce enough insulin, diabetes results . Field trials have been very promising and the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, which is spearheading the research , estimates that an anti-diabetes drug will be on the market in mid 2011.

3. FOR SALE- PRETTY GIRLS  SALIVA

China’s equivlent of e-Bay has banned an online trader from selling the saliva of pretty girls. The retailer named Zhou claimed that the saliva was a tonic and asked for the equivalent of $ 3 per bottle. Listings for the bottles included pictures of the 18-year old girls from whom the saliva was supposedly taken.The listings were deleted after dozens of complaints from irate web surfers.

4. CRICKETER CAUGHT WITH PANTS DOWN

A cricketer was caught in his underwear when he should have been walking out to bat. Teammates at the Bournemouth Cricket Club tried and failed to find some extra cover for the 18 year old player identified only as Ed. The teenager ran out to bat clutching his box and a helmet. His state of undress was not allowed and he was sent back to the pavilion after receiving a rare ‘ timed out’ dismissal for taking more than three minutes to get to the wicket. Despite this setback, Bournemouth went on to draw their Southern Premier League match with Havant.

5. NEPAL FORCES POCKET-LINING AIRPORT WORKERS TO CHANGE

Nepal’s anti-corruption authority has come up with a novel solution to forestall rampant bribe taking at the counntry’s only international airport. Ishwori Prasad Paudyal , spokesman for the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) , said that CIAA investigators had observed widespread theft as well as bribe taking  by airport workers at Tribhuvan International Airport. He told AFP that it had been decided that airport personnel would be issued  trousers without pockets and that the decision would be implemented as soon as possible.

6. UNHOLY SURPRISE: NUN CLOCKED AT 180 KM/HR.

Italian traffic police got an unholy surprise when they pulled over a Ford Fiesta clocked at 180 km/hr.The driver was a 56 year old nun who claimed that she was on a mercy dash tothe Pope’s bedside. She was accompanied by two other Salesian nuns, ages 65 and 78, and told police that they were rushing to Pope Benedict’s side out of concern for his broken wrist. The Vatican had recently gone public with the news that Pope Benedict had fallen in the bathroom and broken his wrist while on his summer holiday.

Unimpressed by the urgency of the mission, the police fined the nun $ 650 and suspended her licence for a month. The nun’s lawyer said that the nun is planning to appeal.

Well, were you able to pick out the false story ? It wasn’t easy , was it ?  Nowadays , there are so many strange things happening all over the world that newspapers regularly publish them under headings like ” QUIRKIES” , or ” ODD NEWS” or ” STRANGE BUT TRUE” .Of the six stories appearing above, all were true except No.2, the story about the horseshoe crabs.That one I made up.

A few years ago, a poll of newspaper readers found that almost 40% of them trusted the National Enquirer more than they did the New York Times. Ican’t totally blame them since the true stories in the above look like they came fresh off the pages of the National Enquirer.

Bill Maher’s New Rules: Funny but…

About ten years ago, we were in Las Vegas and had planned on seeing the Blue Men perform. However, when we were about to book tickets for the show, my wife decided that she wanted to see Bill Maher Live instead. As a result , six of us caught the Blue Mens’ performance while my wife and my sister-in-law saw Bill Maher do his shtick. They said Bill Maher was great but I was  glad we stuck to our original plan and saw the Blue Men; they were amazing.

Before then , I’d only occasionally seen  Bill Maher perform on TV. He came across as very intelligent, very opinionated, very funny but  somebody that I ’d enjoy only in small doses. Recently, I rented Bill Maher’s New Rules from Netflix and watched it and … my opinion hasn’t changed.

The short 45-minute video is a compilation of the ‘New Rules’ segments of his TV shows from 2003-2005 . For those who haven’t seen the show, Bill Maher proposes a number of new rules about various things that tick him off . Things like tattoos with Chinese characters, George W. Bush’s penchant for posing like a working rancher next to his pick-up truck, Freedom Fries, then FEMA chief Michael Brown , the Bravo network ’s  TV show ” Queer Eye for the Straight Guy” etc. It’s a rapid fire performance with each target being skewered for  30 to 45 seconds and there’s no denying that it is funny, almost all of it. ( Hardcore Republicans and Bush supporters may have another opinion).

For instance , on the subject of tattoos, he has this to say ; “Just because your tattoo has Chinese characters doesn’t mean you’re spiritual. It’s in  the crack of your ass and it means “Beef with Broccoli.” On the declining Jewish population:” The Jewish people have to start f***king again. The Jewish population has dropped 5% in the last decade which may explain why the country’s finances are in such bad shape. Breed, you sons of Abraham ! Breed!”

Maher has a great team of writers ,he’s very intelligent and a quick thinker ( I’ve seen him in unscripted interviews) and he has a way with words. His politics don’t bother me and I do find him funny. However, he does seem to have a fixation with gays ( there were close to a dozen cracks about gays and gayness, which I think is too many) and he comes across as an all-knowing wiseass. After a while the smirk gets to me. I don’t think I’ll be watching another of his videos anytime soon.

The Shelf Life of Authors

How long does an author’s popularity last ? How long do his books continue to sell after he dies ? These questions set me thinking about the books and authors that I used to read in India in the late fifties and early sixties, the days of my youth. Among those I remembered  reading were  : W. Somerset Maugham, A.J.Cronin, Edgar Wallace, Harold Robbins, John Steinbeck, John O’ Hara, James T. Farrell, Neville Shute,Saul Bellow , P.G. Wodehouse , and mystery writers Erle Stanley Gardner and John Creasey. Of all of them perhaps John Steinbeck is the only one whose name today’s youngsters will recognize and who continues to be read .

Of those who are now almost forgotten, Maugham and Cronin ’s eclipse is not surprising since they were British authors with less of a readership in America. Ditto Wodehouse whose humor is dated and whose peak years were earlier. James Farrell ( the Studs Lonegan trilogy) and Edgar Wallace were Americans but they too were already past the peak of their popularity when I read them. In hindsight, Wallace was never very good though he was popular.The real surprise to me is Erle Stanley Gardner, whose Perry Mason mysteries I used to devour and which were later made even more famous by the TV series starring Raymond Burr in the title role. I find his decline  surprising because Agatha Christie is still popular among mystery mavens even though she pre-dates him.

To get back to the question of an author’s shelf  life : it seems to me that it gets shorter and shorter with every passing year and is currently no more than twenty or twenty-five years. It seems to me that there are number of reasons for this. One is the sheer number of books that are printed every year , a number that has increased exponentially, and the increasing ease with which they can be obtained whether through the library system, or in cheap paperbacks and trade paperbacks , and recently with Kindle. With such a multiplicity of choices, readers tend to be less loyal to their favorites. It has been estimated that even a voracious reader will probably read ‘only’ about 5,000 or 6,000 in the course of a lifetime. Naturally, she is going to be very selective in the books she chooses to read.Secondly, we want to read books that are relevant to us and thus gravitate towards newer books that are set in the present day . I didn’t understand this when I first started using the library system and was surprised to find separate stacks for new arrivals. However I quickly understood why and soon found myself checking out the new arrivals before I went to the ‘regular’ stacks. Nowadays, I find that even the books that I read when they were first published twentyfive years ago are no longer as interesting to me.Today’s  novels are much  faster paced and more realistic thanks to the ease with which they can be researched over the internet.

There are of course some factors that will extend an author’s popularity. The first is when one of his books becomes required reading in schools. That is part of the reason why Steinbeck is still read today; his ” Of Mice and Men” is prescribed school reading. The same goes for Harper Lee ( “To Kill a Mockingbird ). A second reason is that some books continue to be relevant from generation to generation. A prime example is J.D. Salinger’s coming-of-age novel , ” The Catcher In the Rye”. Other examples are Joseph Heller’s ” Catch 22″ and Jack Kerouac’s ” On the Road”, though the popularity of both is fast diminishing lately. A third reason is that when books are made into films or brought to TV , many viewers go back and read the book.

It should also be mentioned that certain whole genres have fallen by the wayside. When I was a kid, I used to love Westerns. Among my favorite western authors were Luke Short, Ernest Haycox, Hal G. Evarts, Tod hunter Ballard and , a little later, Louis L’Amour. Except the last-named, all are forgotten now . Indeed , Westerns themselves stopped being read sometime in the late sixties-early seventies. I’ve often wondered why. Perhaps it has something to do with the moon landing in 1968. Until then, people used to look back in time ; they were inspired by the stories of the men who tamed the West, a time “when men were men”.  After we landed a man on the moon, people started looking to the future rather than the past . Sci-fi increased in popularity as Westerns fell off the map. At least that’s my theory.

Phelps, Cavic and the 100 Meter ‘Fly

Michael Phelps has just won the 100 meter butterfly at the World Swimming Championships in Rome and I , for one, couldn’t be happier.In winning the race  1n 49.82 seconds and setting a new world record, Phelps beat back the challenge of Milorad Cavic of Serbia and effectively shut him up. Unlike their race in Beijing, this time there was no doubt at all about the final outcome. Cavic was leading at the turn , as expected , but Phelps tracked  him down in the final 15 meters and won handily by a margin of 0.13 seconds.

Prior to last week, I had a lot of sympathy for Cavic even though I am a  Michael Phelps fan . At Beijing, Cavic lost by the slimmest of margins, one hundredth of a second. It might even be that Cavic touched the wall ahead of Phelps but not hard enough to trigger the sensor ; Phelps made no such mistake and was adjudged the winner. It was a heartbreaking loss and I’d have had no quarrel with the judges if they’d declared it a dead-heat and given both men gold medals. However with the modern technology now available, it was possible to break down time into infinitesmally small intervals and  there could not be a tie. It was a bitter loss for Cavic to swallow , no question about it.

At these world championships though, Cavic has been difficult to stomach. He had been talking smack about his chances against Phelps and had needlessly involved himself in the controversy about the new swimsuits which are legal for now but will not be allowed next year.Phelps did not choose to answer him but did all his talking in the pool. Inspite of the disadvantage of wearing the old Speedo LZR Racer swimsuit (which will continue to be legal in the future), Phelps was still able to beat Cavic in a new world record time. Sweet, sweet, sweet ! 

To some extent I can understand Cavic’s behavior. Still sore about his loss at Beijing,he was trying to pump himself up  ahead of the clash with Phelps. What I cannot understand are the critics who denigrate Phelps  for a variety of reasons unrelated to his performance in the pool. Some sneeringly remark that he must have had a ‘hit ‘ of the bong before he jumped in the pool today ( a reference to the pot-smoking incident of a few months ago). Others see Cavic as a hero who goes to school while pursuing his swimming career and Phelps as a spoilt kid who has grown rich off his endorsements giving him complete freedom with his swimming. Still others see Phelps  as arrogant in victory. Phelps was also roundly criticized for refusing an audience with the Pope today . ( He wanted to rest up and mentally prepare  for the 100 M fly finals later in the day ).One fellow even goes so far as to jibe that no one could possibly be that dominant a swimmer,that Phelps must be on performance enhancing drugs and that he will be found out before too long. Isn’t that what they said  about Lance Armstrong too ?

I can understand the Europeans rooting for one of their own. I can understand fans , European or American, rooting for the underdog. What I cannot stand is fans who will not give credit where credit is due , who seem to want nothing more than to tear down a sports icon, and who will not give  acknowledge Phelps ’s greatness even when he wins fair and square.

Zatoichi and his ReIncarnation, Hanzo

For a while we used to get the Kung Fu channel as part of our cable package and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I didn’t care much for the chop-socky kung fu movies but I became a fan of the samurai sagas , espescially those featuring Zatoichi.

Zatoichi , for those who may not be familiar with his adventures, is a fictional blind swordsman who travels around medieval Japan scratching out a living as a masseur and gambler while losing no opportunity to protect the weak against cruel overlords and menacing yakuza . It is difficult enough for a blind man to travel to strange places unaided and the premise that that same blind man is able to fight and defeat multiple enemies is preposterous. Or at least it should be . Somehow , Shintaro Katsu who played Zatoichi, made it seem possible. Katsu’s Zatoichi was a complex character. Not above bending the rules when he gambled, he still had a very strong sense of right and wrong that led him to intervene on behalf of the weak and defenseless. In 26 movies and 112 TV episodes, Zatoichi saved countless damsels in distress , righted innumerable wrongs  and romanced not a few women before striding off into the sunset. No matter that the fight sequences were entirely predictable, I never tired of watching a fresh Zatoichi episode ( or even re-watching one that I’d already seen). I was fascinated with the picture of Japanese society that was painted, the harsh social structure of the times  and above all, the nuances of Zatoichi’s character. The violence of the fight sequences was offset by the poignant moments when Zatoichi mused on his life as a blind man. The rampant cruelty of some of the characters was counterbalanced by the comic sequences of  Zatoichi’s interaction with children or his crab legged walk. Looking at Shintaro Katsu and his mannerisms, his half closed eyes, his groping hands it was difficult to imagine that he was not blind in real life.

About a year ago our cable provider suddenly removed the Kung Fu channel from it’s package. This was a loss because there were several Zatoichi movies that I’d not yet seen. I then joined Netflix and was delighte to note that it gave access to a fair number of samurai movies , including some Zatoichi adventures , one of which was a 2003 flic featuring Takeshi Kitano in the lead role.

I also found there were three movies with Shintaro Katsu starring as Hanzo the Razor.

Hanzo has some similarities to the earlier Zatoichi character. Only some. Like Zatoichi , he is on the side of truth and justice and he is an expert fighter not just with the sword but with a variety of other weapons.He lives in a slightly later era and ,unlike the wandering Zatoichi, he lives in town and works as a samurai constable.As mentioned earlier, he has the usesof his eyes, unlike Zatoichi. The biggest difference is his method of “interrogating ” female suspects. His highly effective method is to screw them until they become slaves of lust and are ready to tell him whatever he wants.While there are plenty of salacious scenes,there is much less nudity than one might expect given this plot device.  In the first movie of the series, Hanzo tries to unravel why Killer Kanbei, a convicted murderer who has been incarcerated in an island prison , seems not only to have escaped but is involved with palace intrigue. Hanzo has to battle against his corrupt boss and mysterious higher-ups before he resolves the mystery. The film ends with an unrelated sequence in which two young children are wrestling with the problem of how to put their terminally ill father out of his misery.

Unlike the Zatoichi series, the Hanzo films do not have a clear cut story line. The director is caught between two stools, sometimes treating it like a regular samurai movie, at other times treating it as if it were an exploitation film with comedic overtones.The story line is not always coherent, the music is jarring and the character of Hanzo is not a likable one. Unlike Zatoichi, Hanzo comes across as a cruel , humorless lout. When he involves himself in the plight of the children it comes as a surprise. Until that point he has not come across as someone given to altruism.

Inspite of all that, Hanzo is worth watching if only to see Shintaro Katsu in a different role , one in which he is not blind. Zatichi fans in particular may want to avail themselves of the opportunity.  Be warned however that these films have graphic violence and strong sexual content and are not suitable viewing  for youngsters.

Lance Armstrong, the French and the Tour de France

When Lance Armstrong decided to compete in this years Tour de France after a 3-1/2 year layoff I, like many others thought that he was making a mistake and that he should have remained retired . After seven Tour de France victories,a record that will probably never be equalled, there was nothing more left to prove.Over the past fortnight he has proved me , and all the other doubters,  wrong. For him to come in third, after three and a half years away from the sport and inspite of a broken collarbone that seriously hampered his training, and at the advanced age of 37 , is nothing short of magnificent. I regard this third place finish on a par with his earlier victories.

As great a competitor as Armstrong is, he is unfortunately a world class jerk. I don’t pretend to know the finer points of cycling , whether Contador played fair in breaking away from his teammates etc., etc., but this much is fact… when Lance Armstrong joined Team Astana, Contador was the unquestioned team leader and it was Armstong who was in a support role. He acknowledged that and then set out to undermine Contador. I have always rooted for Lance but I didn’t like the way in which he kept sniping at Contador until the latter put the race away in the Alps.After that Lance appeared to accept the inevitable and made nice with Alberto…. only to boycott the Astana team’s victory party after the race. There can be no excuses for such boorish behavior. I will again be rooting for Lance in next year’s tour but , win or lose, I hope he conducts himself better.

Reading all the reader responses to the Tour de France articles, I am surprised to see the number of fans (European and American) who feel that Armstrong ’s Tour victories were aided by performance enhancing drugs.  Considering how often and for how many years he has been tested I don’t see how he could have avoided being caught . The TDF authorities have been out to get Armstrong for a long, long time yet they have never managed to get the goods on him .Plenty of riders have tested positive in the last ten years including Floyd  Landis, Richard Virenque , Alexander Vinokurov, Jan Ulrich, Ivan Basso , Bjarne Riis etc., but Armstrong never.Yes, there was one 1999 sample that they claimed tested positive in 2006, seven years after the fact, a period during which it could have been easily tampered with.Until such time as they are able to catch him red handed, it would only be fair to give him his due as one of the greatest, if not the greatest , champions in the history of the Tour de France.

The vindictiveness of the French cycling authorities and the French Press towards lance Armstrong is puzzling. The most common ‘explanation’  is that theycannot bear to see their national sport dominated by a foreigner , and an American at that. Since the French have long been known for their antipathy to Americans , this seems to make as much sense as anything else.Armstrong, on his part, has not made it easy for people to like him. He has been called arrogant, selfish, nasty, ruthless, a sore winner and many other things and with good reason.But then it is true that there is no place for niceness in one’s psyche if one wants to be a winner in such a demanding,cut throat sport. One has to be ruthless if one is to win.I think that the French people ( though not the cycling establishment and the press) recognise this and that they have changed their attitude towards Armstrong in recent years. As for the French press, nothing would give me greater pleasure than to see see Lance Armstrong come back and win the Tour next year and rub their nose in it.

Korean food, Set Dinners and Odorless Kimchi

I love Korean food and hadn’t had any for a couple of months. When my son and I decided  to go out for dinner  I suggested a Korean restaurant, Kim Ho Jeung. Usually, we wind up ordering one barbecue type dish and one casserole which together with the ban chan is plenty enough. This time my eye was caught by a sign offering ’set dinners”.On enquiry we were told that it was prix fixe dinner of 11 courses for two people for $ 40. That sounded like a tasting menu and it would enable us to sample dishes which we would otherwise never order. Besides, at $ 40 for two , it was a real bargain. We decided to go for it.

The first surprise was that it included  ban chan , those little appetizers that start off an a la carte Korean meal. I would have thought that with 11 courses to come , there would be no ban chan. Not so. The ban chan arrived and we tried to only nibble at them , mindful of all the food that was to follow. It was not difficult as the other dishes started arriving almost immediately.Before we knew it the table was completely covered with little plates of food. I can’t remember all the dishes but there was a little crock of kalbi, another of bulgogi; a piping hot bowl of tofu and vegetables, an excellent noodle dish, a small seafood pancake , vegetable fritters and a little plate of sashimi. As a cross section of the menu it was very representative of Korean restaurant food and ,at that price, it was a real steal . However, I don’t think I’d go for the set dinner again.

One reason is that there was too much food. Try as we did, we left a quarter of the food on the table ; mostly because we were full, partly because we didn’t care for some of the dishes. Another reason was that with so many dishes being served in short order a) they had to be pre-cooked  and b) by the time we got to them , some of them were not piping hot. This was a problem particularly with the kalbi and the bulgogi. Next time I know I’ll stick to the a la carte menu.

The Los Angeles Times reports there is a move afoot by the Korean government to popularise Korean food and make it one of the Top Five cuisines in the world by 2017. The first part of this is understandable since popularising the cuisine will be a boost to tourism and restaurant revenues. It is the second part ( making it a top five cuisine) that I think is inexplicable and unrealistic. The top three cuisines in the world are , in no particular order, Italian, French and Chinese. After that there are a bunch of others including Indian, Thai, Mexican, Vietnamese and Spanish.Much as I love Korean food,I have  to admit that there are drawbacks to widening its appeal. Many people find it pungent and far too spicy. While people’s taste buds have become more accustomed to spices, it will be a long while ,if ever,before they become accustomed to kimchi and other strong tastes.Besides, Korean cuisine is  rather limited since it does not have the range of vegetables and other ingredients that other cuisines such as French or Italian can offer. And how do you judge when a cuisine becomes a “Top Five ” cuisine?  There are no popularity polls ; nor are there any world championships for cuisines. I once read a Brazilian cookbook which had an introduction beginning with the words” The top three cuisines in the world are French, Italian and Brazilian. Perhaps in 2017 we will read a similar claim about Korean cuisine ?

Which brings me to kimchi.

Kimchi or pickled cabbage could well be called the national dish of Korea. It came into being over a thousand years ago as a way of making food last. Chinese Cabbage harvested in the fall was bottled with chili , garlic and ginger thus pickling it and enabling it to last over the winter and be available year round. It is a pungent smelling , spicy tasting dish that Koreans have developed a taste for just as Greeks developed a taste for retsina. Kimchi is served with practically every meal and is a staple of Korean cuisine. Many Korean homes have separate kimchi refrigerators where the kimchi is storde separately so that the smell will not permeate the other foods stored in the ‘regular’ refrigerator. Kimchi can be too much of a good thing !

The article in the L.A. Times told of a Korean woman, Kim Soon Ja ( 56), who has come up with odorless kimchi. Ms. Ja runs  Han Sung Foods in suburban Seoul and , in 2007, was designated Korea’s first Kimchi Master.Somehow, she has been able to make a freeze dried cabbage kimchi that does not  smell. This new product should appeal to foreigners and picky Korean eaters and the government hopes that it will aid in it’s plans for popularising Korean cuisine worldwide. Perhaps it will but ,is kimchi without the smell still kimchi ? It seems to many , including me, that the smell is an integral part of kimchi. Without the smell you might as well be eating tofu.

The Killing Way: An Arthurian Mystery

With the world fast becoming a global village I have become accustomed to the exotic locales of  the books that I read . I have read mysteries set in Iceland, Sweden , Norway , Holland, ancient Egypt, ancient Rome, Botswana, South Africa, HongKong, China, Japan and ancient Greece just to name a few. All the same , The Killing Way , a mystery that takes place in the Britain of King Arthur,was a first for me .

A crackling good yarn it is !

The action begins with Arthur about to be crowned Rigotamos (or King). His selection is almost a certainty but , on the eve of the council that will validate his ascension, a young woman Eleonore is found brutally murdered , her heart cut out , and with Merlin’s knife beside her corpse. Arthur is faced with a terrible dilemma. Should he stand by his old friend and counselor and risk alienating his subjects or should he allow  Merlin to be summarily executed ? Either way, his ties to Merlin may doom his chances of being Rigatomos . In desperation , he turns to the one man who may be able to get to the bottom of the matter . That man is Malgwyn, surely one of the strangest protagonists in a mystery novel , or any novel for that matter.

Malgwyn was once a  happy farmer and husband, content with his lot ,when treacherous Saxons invaded the farm , murdering his wife and laying waste to all. Determined to avenge his wife,the vengeful Malgwyn fought alongside Arthur wreaking havoc on the Saxons, until one of them lopped off his arm at the elbow. Arthur saved his life by having his wounds tended to by the priests of the abbey at Avalon. However, far from being grateful ,  Malgwyn hates him for condemning him to life as a one-armed cripple. Since his recovery, Malgwyn makes a living copying manuscripts for the priests when he is not drinking and whoring. This then is the man that Arthur turns to for help. 

Eleonore is Malgwyn’s dead wife’s younger sister and this gives him a personal stake in finding out who murdered her. He quickly establishes that she was murdered elsewhwere and her body dragged to where it was found. He becomes convinced of Merlin’s innocence but proving it to the satisfaction of the restive populace is another matter. Someone seems to have staged the murder to discredit Arthur and ruin his chances of being elected Rigotamos. But who is it ? Is it the doughty warrior Vortimer ? Is it Arthur’s cousin , the scheming Modred? Both of them would like to succeed the current chieftain , Ambrosius. And what of the Druids who seem to be making a play for a return to power? If the devoutly Christian Arthur is sidelined it will be easier for them to make a comeback. Before Malgwyn can sort matters out, another woman is murdered in the same ritualistic way. and Ambrosius is forced to issue an ultimatum. Malgwyn has until sundown the following day to find out the murderer. If not, Athur must  execute Merlin with his own hands and should Malgwyn fail to return by that time his own life will be forfeit. Accompanied by the loyal knight Kay, Malgwyn races against time to delve into the sinister plot against Arthur and to save Merlin’s life.The Killing Way also has some gripping subplots .  Malgwyn’s brother, Cuneglas, is a jealous man who has turned Malgwyn’s young daughter against him. Will Malgwyn be able to regain the child’s affections ? And what of Cuneglas’s wife, Ygerne, who seems to harbor feelings for her one-armed brother-in-law ? All these make for a richly detailed page-turner , a highly evocative historical mystery  which will keep the reader guessing until the very end.

The Castellum Arturius where the action takes place is quite different from the prettyfied Camelot  of Hollywood movies. It is a cruder, harsher , barbaric place  that has the ring of authenticity. The knights who people this novel are also different than what might expect. Lancelot does not make an appearance in these pre-Round Table days , and Gawain is barely mentioned. The main characters are Arthur (of course), Kay, Bedivere, Tristan of Cornwall, the scheming Modred, and Vortigern and they are sometimes surprisingly depicted. Kay for instance is usually depicted as a jealous, boastful bully. In The Killing Way he is a more sympathetic character, utterly loyal and steadfast and it is he who protects Malgwyn as he searches for a solution to the mystery.Tristan in this novel is a callow weakling and not the romantic figure we have come to expect from other sources. Merlin  is shown as an addled old man, only sometimes in full possession of his senses. This is a surprise and doesn’t quite ring true , considering the important part he plays in Arthurian legends.

Tony Hays, the author of the Killing Way , was a journalist in Tennessee before turning his hand to novels. He seems to have done an impressive amount of research in order to write this novel. It shows in his treatment of the characters, different from the usual but quite convincing, and in the meticulous detailing of life in Arthurian Britain. I wish though that he had been more careful with the dialogue . It is jarring to find his characters use modern Americanisms such as ” How come… ” . It reminded me of the time I saw the Hollywood potboiler The Black Shield of Falworth and heard Tony Curtis spout  Brooklynese like ” Dese .. ” and ” Dose…”. I am not sure whether the author consciously intended to use the modern vernacular or whether it never occurred to him that it might be incongruous in a historical novel. Regardless, it is a minor matter and should not keep one from sampling this book. It looks as though this is the beginning of a series and I for one eagerly await the next adventure.

The Killing Way  by Tony Hays. A Tom Doherty Assosciates book . New York ( 2009) . $ 24.95.

What is Really Really Important

In an interview in Book Page, the writer Colton Whitehead ( John Henry Days, Sag Harbor) was asked  ” What three things would you want with you on a desert island ?”

His answer ” Internet, TV and everyone I know ‘.

An honest answer though he cheated a little since ” everyone I know ” is not one thing or even a thing. Still his answer points up what have become the most important things in our lives whether we like it or not. Recently, my daughter moved into a new apartment in a new city and was without Internet or TV for a few days. The TV wasn’t a big loss since she doesn’t usally watch it much but being without the Internet made her feel isolated , cut off from everybody. I know that I too feel somewhat deprived when I’m on vacation and can’t check on  e-mails from my friends. For young people the sense of deprivation is even stronger since they use it to a much greater extent to keep in touch with their friends.

The second item , television, is a bit  redundant since much of what it offers is also available on the Internet . Still there are many shows that would help alleviate the boredom on a desert island. The third choice is interesting because it underlines the basic need for human contact. Technology can never take the place of human interactions though it may help alleviate their lack.

I know that many of you reading this are, like me,  not completely satisfied with Whitehead’s choices . For instance, the third thing ” everyone I know” should not be allowed .But what would you choose instead ? I know the religious among you may opt for a Holy Book  but come on … would it really satisfy you for more than a little while ? Be honest in your replies.