Wednesday, September 9, 2026

Recommended reading - The Longman Anthology of Detective Fiction (2004):


The Longman Anthology of Detective Fiction

By Deane Mansfield-Kelley and Lois A. Marchino.

Paperback.
Published by Pearson.
Published in 2004.

ISBN 13: 9780321195012
ISBN 10: 0321195019

Description:

A detective fiction anthology filled with award winning short stories, information on the authors who wrote them, discussion about the history and evolution of the genre, and important literary criticism.

Mary Lee Settle, on writing:


I start with a question.
Then try to answer it.

- Mary Lee Settle.

Tuesday, September 8, 2026

On this day in movie history - Heretic (2024):


Heretic

directed and written by Scott Beck, Bryan Woods,
released at the Toronto International Film Festival in Canada on September 8, 2024.
Music by Chris Bacon.

Cast:

Hugh Grant, Sophie Thatcher, Chloe East, Topher Grace, Elle Young, Julie Lynn Mortensen, Haylie Hansen, Elle McKinnon, Hanna Huffman, Anesha Bailey, Miguel Castillo, Stephanie Lavigne, Wendy Gorling, Carolyn Adair, River Codack.

On this day in music history - Blue Dream – Solo Piano, by Fiona Joy Hawkins (2023):


Blue Dream – Solo Piano

Album by Fiona Joy Hawkins,
released September 8, 2023.

Track list:

From the Outside (Solo); Standing up Solo; Blue Dream (Softly); Contemplating (Softly); Sunrise at Ularu Solo; Song Phonique (Solo); The Void (Softly); Voice of Angels - Solo Piano; Prelude to a Painting (Solo); Moving On (Solo); Somewhere (Solo).

On this day in movie history - Woman of the Hour (2023):


Woman of the Hour

directed by Anna Kendrick,
written by Ian McDonald,
released at the Toronto International Film Festival in Canada on September 8, 2023.
Based on the true 1978 case of serial killer Rodney Alcala, nicknamed The Dating Game Killer.
Music by Dan Romer and Mike Tuccillo.
Cast: Anna Kendrick, Daniel Zovatto, Tony Hale, Nicolette Robinson, Pete Holmes, Autumn Best, Kathryn Gallagher, Kelley Jakle, Matt Visser, Jedidiah Goodacre, Rob Morton, Dylan Schmid, Karen Holness, Denalda Williams, Jessie Fraser, Matty Finochio, Geoff Gustafson, Max Lloyd-Jones, Andy Thompson, Nancy Kerr, James Yi, Jessica Chaffin, Matthew Kevin Anderson, Taylor Hastings, David Beairsto, Darcy Laurie, Marc Gaudet, Bonnie Hay, Michael Adamthwaite, Jacob Woike, Jason Simpson, Hannah Henney, Tighe Gill, Michael Jonsson, Vonnie Bennetto, Thomas Strumpski, John Herkenrath, Jeremy Radin, John Gillich, Roma Lucero.

On this day in movie history - I, Tonya (2017):


I, Tonya

directed by Craig Gillespie,
written by Steven Rogers,
was released at the Toronto International Film Festival in Canada on September 8, 2017.
Inspired by the true 1994 Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan story.
Music by Peter Nashel.


Cast:

Margot Robbie, Sebastian Stan, Allison Janney, Julianne Nicholson, Paul Walter Hauser, Bobby Cannavale, Bojana Novakovic, Caitlin Carver, Maizie Smith, Mckenna Grace, Suehyla El-Attar Young, Jason Davis, Mea Allen, Cory Chapman, Amy Fox, Cara Mantella, Joshua Mikel, Lynne Ashe, Steve Wedan, Brandon O'Dell, Davin Allen Grindstaff, Daniel Thomas May, Anthony Reynolds, Ricky Russert, Al Bianchi, Miles Mussenden, Annie Livingston, Jan Harrelson, Luray Cooper, Dan Triandiflou, Kelly O'Neal, Lisa Kaye Kinsler, Cecil Love, Alphie Hyorth, Sean Goulding, Bobby Browning, Little Man, Bobby Akers, John Jacob Anderson, Jeffery Arseneau, Oksana Baiul, Cassidy Balkcom, Heather Jocelyn Blair, David Bloom, Patti Brindley, James Burns, Buddy Cannon, Lucie Carroll, Jamel D. Chambers, Connie Chung, Kaleigh Brooke Clark, John Crow, Ann Curry, Fi Dieter, Laura Distin, Darrell Duane, Catherine Dyer, Robin Dyke, Duke Edson, Calen Curtis Edwards, Kayla Ellenwood, Gavrielle Anne Fontanilla, Dudley Fuqua, Renah Gallagher, Mistie Gibby, Jeff Glover, Lavona Golden, Tonya Harding, Joe Heath, Kandace Howard, Adrienne Johnson, Allyson Leigh Jordan, Ashley Kalo, Jamie King, Kevin Kobinsky, Kris Kozlowski, Joel Laird, Demetri Landell, Jason MacDonald, Tweed Michael Manning, Heather McCormick, Anthony McDowell, Dana Clark McPherson, Timothy D. Montjoy, Cassidy Morgan, Joel Nathaniel, Charlie Reyes-Torreblanca, Devonte Riley, Brady Rogers, Liz Sanford, Patti Schellhaas, Silvia Schueler, Leonel Severino, James Stacey, James Sterling, Doug Stroup, Joey Thurmond, Evan Towell, Jordyn Tracy, Evan George Vourazeris, William Walker, Christina Michelle Williams, Maria Z. Wilson, Katarina Witt, Raven Wynn, Lina Zalewski.

On this day in movie history – Downfall (2004 movie & books):


Downfall

directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel,
written by Bernd Eichinger,
released in Munich, Germany on September 8, 2004.
Based on the books: Inside Hitler’s Bunker by Joachim Fest and Until the Final Hour by Traudl Junge and Melissa Müller.
Music by Stephan Zacharias.
Nominated for Best Foreign Language Film Oscar at the 77th Academy Awards in 2005.
Won the BBC Four World Cinema competition in 2005.
Cast: Bruno Ganz, Alexandra Maria Lara, Corinna Harfouch, Ulrich Matthes, Juliane Köhler, Heino Ferch, Christian Berkel, Matthias Habich, Thomas Kretschmann, Michael Mendl, André Hennicke, Ulrich Noethen, Birgit Minichmayr, Rolf Kanies, Justus von Dohnányi, Dieter Mann, Christian Redl, Götz Otto, Thomas Limpinsel, Thomas Thieme, Alexander Held, Donevan Gunia, Bettina Redlich, Heinrich Schmieder, Anna Thalbach, Dietrich Hollinderbäumer, Ulrike Krumbiegel, Karl Kranzkowski, Thorsten Krohn, Jürgen Tonkel, Devid Striesow, Fabian Busch, Christian Hoening, Aleksandr Slastin, Alina Sokar, Amelie Menges, Charlotte Stoiber, Gregory Borlein, Julia Bauer, Laura Borlein, Andrey Blagoslovenski, Dirk Borchardt, Elizaveta Boyarskaya, Michael Brandner, I. Bubenchikov, Leopold von Buttlar, Martin Butzke, Dmitriy Bykovskiy-Romashov, Sergey Evseev, Mathias Gnädinger, Bohdan Graczyk, Sergey Rublev, Norbert Heckner, Enno Hesse, Evgeniy Ilovayskiy, Julia Jentsch, Oleg Khoroshilov, Michael Kind, Elisabeth von Koch, Tara Marie Linke, Michael Lippold, Konstantin Lukashov, Stefan Mehren, Ilya Mozgovoy, Silke Nikowski, Alexei Oleinikov, Oleg Piminov, Katerina Poladjan, Oleg Popov, Silke Popp, Vasiliy Reutov, Igor Romanov, Tanja Schleiff, Christian Schmidt, August Schmölzer, Jurij Schrader, Boris Schwarzmann, Mariya Semyonova, Igor Sergeev, Valeri Slavinski, Valeriy Salomakhin, Hans H. Steinberg, Klaus-Jürgen Steinmann, Oliver Stritzel, Veit Stübner, Mikhail Tryasorukov, Vsevolod Tsurilo, Klaus B. Wolf, Elena Dreyden, Tatyana Zhuravlyova, Frank Brandes, Thomas Franke, Traudl Junge, Martin Kessler, Henning Peker, Dieter Rupp, Aleksandr Styopin.

Recommended reading:


Inside Hitler's Bunker: The Last Days of the Third Reich

By Joachim Fest.

Translated by Margot Bettauer Dembo.
Published by Picador.
Published 2002.
ISBN-10: 0312423926
ISBN-13: 978-0312423926

Description:

Fest describes in riveting detail the final weeks of the war, from the desperate battles that raged night and day in the ruins of Berlin, fought by boys and old men, to the growing paranoia that marked Hitler's mental state, to his suicide and the efforts of his loyal aides to destroy his body before the advancing Russian armies reached Berlin. Inside Hitler's Bunker combines meticulous research with spellbinding storytelling and sheds light on events that, for those who survived them, were nothing less than the end of the world.

"A riveting book." – Henry A. Kissinger.

"Fest's concise volume is clear – indeed, even elegant – in its style and keen in its observations." – The Dallas Morning-News.

"Fest brings a unique perspective to his subject, coupling objective narrative with a keen critical disdain for Hitler and his subordinates." – The Roanoke Times.

"A lifetime of reflection on the Nazi period is distilled in a short but diligently written and incisive book." – Michael Burleigh, author of The Third Reich: A New History.

Joachim Fest was born in Berlin in 1926. His previous books include The Face of the Third Reich; Hitler, his celebrated biography of Adolf Hitler; Plotting Hitler's Death; and Speer: The Final Verdict, for which he has won numerous awards. A film adaptation of Inside Hitler's Bunker, entitled Downfall, has become a European blockbuster.


Until the Final Hour: Hitler's Last Secretary

By Traudl Junge.

Edited by Melissa Müller.
Published by Orion Paperbacks.
Published 2002.
ISBN-10: 0753820552
ISBN-13: 978-0753820551

Description:

Offering a unique insider's perspective on Adolf Hitler and the final days of the Third Reich, the personal recollections of a woman who became Hitler's secretary at the age of twenty-two in 1942 sheds new light on Hitler's day-to-day life, character, and habits, while chronicling a young woman's discovery of the evil that lurked behind the pleasant façade of the man for whom she worked.