Barbara Serenella; Otto Penzler; Kill It and Grill It

Sad news:

Barbara Seranella's Home Page: "Barbara Seranella
Born April 30, 1956
Died January 21, 2007

Barbara Seranella, 50, bestselling mystery author and resident of Laguna Beach and PGA West in La Quinta, died peacefully on January 21, 2007, at 4:15 p.m. EST (1:15 p.m. PST) at the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio, with her husband Ron Seranella and her brother Dr. Larry Shore at her side. Barbara, who died of end-stage liver disease while awaiting a liver transplant, leaves behind her husband Ron, brothers Larry Shore of San Francisco and David Shore of Woodacre, parents Nate and Margie Shore of La Quinta, and stepdaughters Carrie Seranella and Shannon Howard.

Private funeral arrangements are being made by the family. A celebration of Barbara's life is being planned for February; details will be announced later."
posted by Bill Crider @ 12:04 PM

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Book review

While I'll never understand why Otto Penzler berates most female mystery writers the way he does, I have to say that his editorial choices are otherwise pretty damned good. He turned Mysterious Press into a major player and the anthologies and collections he edits are usually impeccably selected.

Uncertain Endings (Pegasus $23.95) is certainly no exception. Billed as the "most baffling mysteries in literary history," this anthology "paradoxical puzzle stories" gave me a full weekend's pleasure. All you need to do is read the the tableof contents for author names and you'll unholster your credit card instantly. How about Ray Bradbury, Roald Dahl, Mark Twain, Stanley Ellin and the much underrated O. Henry among others?

This is a serious, dazzling collection of styles, historical periods and plain good writing. This goes on the keeper shelf for sure.

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Kill It and Grill It

My less than enthusiastic take on Ted Nugent and his scumbag appearance at the Texas Governor's Ball last week earned me funny phone call from one of our blog readers.

A woman called and said that she'd sat next to Nugent in high school study hall. Her impression of him wasn't especially favorable--no surprise--but then her impression of herself wasn't much better. She called herself "a bookish nerd." She said that she had to credit him with fulfulling his boasts. He said he had a band people would want to hear and after all the predictable trials and tribs he did become something of a one hit wonde after all. Then (my addition) he became a cult hero for people who eat roadkill.