Holiday Gift Guide: Cakepops Holidays by Bakerella

Bakerella is Angie Dudley, the popular and adventurous blogger whose confections have formed a revolution. It’s possible that she didn’t invent them, but she certainly has done more than her share to not only bring them to the masses, but also to push the very boundaries of cake on a stick.

More than 800,000 copies of her first book about cakepops are in print. High time then to follow up with a second book, this one targeted on a theme -- in this case, the holidays -- and showcasing even more refined and well-thought-out confections. After all if nothing else, Dudley has more cakepops under her belt now than she did the last time.

The examples in Cakepops Holidays (Chronicle) are exquisite. Each one a tiny work of art ready to be “oohed” and “ahed” over before consumption. For example, who could ever resist a whole herd of tiny polar bears, each with a body that looks like a peppermint stick? Or tiny presents complete with name tags and pretty bows? Santas. Elves with freckles. Tiny Christmas lights. And many, many more.

Since Bakerella advises her readers to start with cake mix cakes, this is not exactly a cookbook. More like a book of edible art projects. The other things it is? A lot of holiday fun! ◊

Monica Stark is a contributing editor to January Magazine. She currently makes her home on a liveaboard boat somewhere in the North Pacific.

Holiday Gift Guide: Scaredy Squirrel Prepares for Christmas written and illustrated by Melanie Watt

The holidays are a veritable hotbed of hazards. As the publisher of Scaredy Squirrel Prepares for Christmas (KidsCan) tells us, it’s the season for “worrying, planning, decorating, wrapping, entertaining, caroling and, worst of all, fruitcake!”

Fortunately, in order to help out with all the frightening possibilities, beloved Scaredy Squirrel has compiled a “Safety Guide for Scaredies” in what I believe is his sixth outing.

As usual, award-winning author illustrator Melanie Watt delivers a charming mix of tomfoolery and silliness. For instance, a list of 12 things to do before Christmas includes ironing your tuxedo (to look spiffy), weighing your piggy bank (to balance budget) and get annual eye exam (to keep focus.)

A few pages later, there is some slight instruction on what does and does not look festive. (Hint: acorns make good holiday decorations. But hot dogs? Not so much.)

Scaredy Squirrel Prepares for Christmas is everything a Scaredy Squirrel book should be, with the added bonus of a seasonal tie-in. A terrific gift for the sacredy squirrel in your life! ◊

Monica Stark is a contributing editor to January Magazine. She currently makes her home on a liveaboard boat somewhere in the North Pacific.

Holiday Gift Guide: A Shtinky Little Christmas by Patrick McDonnell

Those who love Patrick McDonnell’s “Mutts” comic strip featuring Earl the Dog and Mooch the cat will get a kick out of A Shtinky Little Christmas (Andrews McMeel).

Earl and Mooch find a lost kitten in a garbage can, name it Shtinky Pudding and try to give it shelter. Comic-style hijinx ensues, but there’s a happy ending and, on the way there, we are given one of the best take away lines in a book I’ve seen in a while: “One can purchase ‘unconditional’ love at any animal shelter for a small fee!”

This is a sweet, small, stocking-sized book. If you enjoy the aberrant style of the Mutts strip, make sure you add this one to your list. ◊

Monica Stark is a contributing editor to January Magazine. She currently makes her home on a liveaboard boat somewhere in the North Pacific.

Holiday Gift Guide: The Official NASCAR Trivia Book by John C. Farrell

Clearly, if the person on your list is a big NASCAR fan, there are only so many gift ideas available, especially if you live off the beaten NASCAR track. An easy (and easy to ship!) answer is The Official NASCAR Trivia Book (Fenn & M&S) by NASCAR insider John C. Farrell.

As much of a game as it is a book, as the title suggests, The Official NASCAR Trivia Book rounds up a whole lot of NASCAR trivia, then offers multiple choice answers and as Marty Smith notes in his introduction, trivia is catnip to NASCAR fans:

NASCAR fans are a unique breed, among the most loyal in sport. They have a n insatiable desire to learn every morsel of information possible about their chosen drivers, teams and tracks that compose the sport they love.

That being the case The Official NASCAR Trivia Book delivers all of the above in style. A terrific gift for those who take their NASCAR racing seriously.

Holiday Gift Guide: Waffles by Dawn Yanagihara

Who needs a whole book about waffles? After all, on the surface of things, how much can be done with the waffle-y form? But in chef and cookbook editor Dawn Yanagihara’s first book, Waffles: Sweet, Savory, Simple (Chronicle) you see the waffle in what would seem to be all possible forms. And it’s wonderful!

The waffles of my own childhood were delicious but super simple affairs. They came from a box in the freezer. You dropped them into the toaster. After the pop you added syrup and -- voila! -- an instant breakfast I didn't imagine could be topped. Dawn Yanagihara’s waffles are nothing like any of that. First of all, though, we’re treated to Yanagihara’s humor: “In one of my oversimplified views of human beings,” she writes in the introduction, “there are two types of people: those who like pancakes and those who like waffles.” She posits that the pancake people are “stable, grounded, in control” and so on, while the wafflers are “off-kilter, willy-nilly, moody” and more. She goes on to say this is nonsense, but you can’t help but loving her for saying it: there are differences, and here they are.

However much you like (or don’t) Yanagihara’s waffle-based philosophy, none of the recipes in this excellent book involve toasters. Her classic waffle recipe is very good: basic and seemingly infallible. But from there, it just gets better.

How can you not admire the inventiveness that brings us Huevos Y Waffles Rancheros? Here cornmeal waffles replace the corn tortillas on which the fried eggs in this classic Mexican breakfast rest. And I’m looking forward to trying Smoked Salmon and Crème Fraiche on Buckwheat-Sour Cream Waffles as an appetizer over the holidays. But the star for me (and it certainly won’t be for everyone!) has to be the Fried Chicken and Waffles with Bacon Gravy. This perplexing Southern favorite is here broken down in a way that even moderately accomplished home chefs should be able to attempt with confidence. ◊

Aaron Blanton is a contributing editor to January Magazine. He’s currently working on a book based on his experiences as an American living abroad.

Holiday Gift Guide: The Judge and the Lady by Marlyn Horsdal

Author, editor and one-time publisher, Marlyn Horsdal, pulls a page out of British Columbian history for her latest novel, The Judge and the Lady (Touchwood).

It is 1870 and beautiful Eleanor Wentworth arrives in the coastal city of Victoria from London just in time to lower her expectations. How can the fledgling city at the edge of frontier ever find its place in society? Though her first thought is to flee (but to where?), she soon finds herself attracted to a fascinating man who looks as though he may well go places, despite the disadvantages of location.

While Horsdal’s prose is occasionally a little breathless, her research and passion moves the story forward fruitfully. This is one for those who like a bit of fiction woven in with their history. And the history here seems unimpeachable. In an author’s note, Horsdal shares the fact that she edited a biography of Judge Matthew Begbie (the historical person whom the fictional Eleanor finds so fascinating). “I have portrayed the real Judge Begbie as accurately as I can,” Horsdal writes, “much of what he says in the novel is actual quotes, or drawn from his Bench Books, letters, and other writings.”

The Judge and the Lady provides as complete a fictional portrait of the era and the place as one can hope to find. ◊

Monica Stark is a contributing editor to January Magazine. She currently makes her home on a liveaboard boat somewhere in the North Pacific.

Holiday Gift Guide: Reel Terror: The Scary, Bloody, Gory, Hundred-Year History of Classic Horror Films by David Konow

It should not be surprising that the author of the definitive guide to heavy metal music should come back with another, similar guide, this time devoted to what some would say is the film world’s heavy metal equivalent.

Reel Terror: The Scary, Bloody, Gory, Hundred-Year History of Classic Horror Films (St. Martin’s Press/Thomas Dunne) takes a long, loving look behind the scenes at the century long history of movies of the macabre.

Though contemporary works are given more space and love than the classics, Reel Terror still manages to infuse this ever-popular genre in the sort of lovelight that can only be generated by a true fanboy. In the introduction, author David Konow writes:

This book is not just a love letter to a great and underappreciated genre, but it also tries to show what makes a great horror film effective, even decades after it’s been made …. There’s a reason why the best horror films in the genre have lasted, and why many are still scary today.

Part handbook to the great films of the genre, part “love letter” to a part of film history that hasn’t had a great many of those, both fans of horror and classic film will enjoy many aspects of Konow’s well-researched and written book. ◊

Jones Atwater is a contributing editor to January Magazine.

Holiday Gift Guide: Seriously Simple Parties by Diane Rossen Worthington

Whether you choose Seriously Simple Parties (Chronicle Books) as a gift or to complete your personal holiday schedule, Diane Rossen Worthington’s 20th cookbook hits home. The tone here is light, the recipes well laid out and carefully chosen and the food itself reflective of a culture that has gone through a lot of changes since the author’s earliest efforts. Best of all, in spirit, it answers all of the questions that a new home entertainer might have:

This book will show you how to pull together a festive meal for a small or large group that is tasty and beautifully presented, but doesn't require endless hours preparation.

Perfect, right? What else do any of us want?

With notes on stocking the pantry, party entertaining styles, seasonal party themes plus a whole section on themed menus based on recipes in the book, the nervous home entertainer will find him or herself well prepared for early hosting forays.

As appropriate for a book about party entertaining, the recipe section begins with drinks of both the alcoholized and dealcoholized kind. With smoothies, cocktails, spritzers and sangrias included, you almost don’t notice that no recipes for any type of punch have been included. An oversight that would have rounded out the book.

And though some appetizers have been included, that’s not the thrust of this book, with the bulk of the recipes more appropriate for lunches, brunches and dinners with friends than for stand-up cocktail parties or canapes for a group.

In short, while this is not the definitive book on holiday entertaining, it’s a healthful and well-produced start. ◊

Aaron Blanton is a contributing editor to January Magazine. He’s currently working on a book based on his experiences as an American living abroad.

Holiday Gift Guide: A Year of Writing Dangerously by Barbara Abercrombie

The idea behind A Year of Writing Dangerously (New World Library) is to provide, as the subtitle says, “365 Days of Inspiration & Encouragement.” And it does.

Every day, seasoned author Barbara Abercrombie offers a single page that contains a relevant quote plus an essay, anecdote or even a question or thoughts, all about writing and all intended to get your juices flowing. As Abercrombie writes in her introduction:

Why a year?

Because if you want to write a novel or a memoir or an autobiography, you’ll need at least a year of focused work to get from the idea in your head to the reality of a first draft …. This is a book about writing your way through 365 days.

And it’s a lovely way. Abercrombie’s stories are rich and sharply detailed and well told. They are mostly intensely brief -- the better to get you going writing your own stuff, I suppose -- but they lift and inflate the reader. Sometimes in unexpected ways.

Some of the chapter headings tell the story. Why Writers Get Scared. Our Baggage. Imaginations Going Nuts.

A Year of Writing Dangerously would be a rich gift, indeed. And it is almost dangerously inspiration, with some witty and wise thrown in for good measure. It’s a very good book. ◊

Monica Stark is a contributing editor to January Magazine. She currently makes her home on a liveaboard boat somewhere in the North Pacific.

Holiday Gift Guide: Crazy Sexy Kitchen by Kris Carr and Chad Sarno

It wouldn’t be Christmas without the latest fad diet cookbook. This year, the raddest fad diet is -- wait for it -- health. And fad healthful eating is springing up all over in the form of vegan and “plant-based diet” cookbooks.

Nowhere is the fad as pretty and shiny than it is in Crazy Sexy Kitchen (Hay House). In some ways, the name says it all.

The book follows up the New York Times bestselling Crazy Sexy Diet, “a nutrient-dense, plant-happy approach to eating and living that harmonizes your beautiful body at the cellular level.” What could be better than that? Basically, it’s veganism under a (way) sexier banner, as you quickly learn as your taken through a tour of a meat-free, sugar-free, lactose-free lifestyle, as well as some of the highlights of choosing to eat in this way. Another section deals with handling some of the basics. How to prep and cook beans and grains. How to choose and hold a knife. How to destone an avocado. And so on.

The stars of the book, however, are the recipes. There are a lot of them, clearly well-thought out and brilliantly photographed. Cauliflower Risotto. Yellow Squash Fettuccine. Vegan “Clam” Chowder. Beetroot Ravioli with Cashew Cream Cheese. And many, many more, for every meal of the day, with many suitable for entertaining.

Much of this is food you could feed anyone without worrying that they’ll be worrying about what they’re missing. Just entirely wholesome, beautiful food. There’s not a lot to get excited about here, but those looking for a soft entree to a whole lifestyle change will find a lot here to like. ◊

Aaron Blanton is a contributing editor to January Magazine. He’s currently working on a book based on his experiences as an American living abroad.

Holiday Gift Guide: Seeing Red: The True Story of Blood by Tanya Lloyd Kyi

Many parents of kids with active brains are familiar with Tanya Lloyd Kyi’s work. Kyi’s writing is sharp and her topics are targeted, and betray both the author’s own natural curiosity as well as a way of writing for children that manages to be calm, informative and interesting all at once.

Her most recent book, Seeing Red: The True Story of Blood (Annick Press), is a perfect example.

Blood pacts and sacrifices. Blood brothers and blue bloods. Bloodletting and spatter patterns. The idea of blood flows through human culture the same way the real stuff flows through our veins. 

And so we encounter vampires and gladiators, learn about hemophilia and about blood in language as well as fact (blood runs deep, he’s hot-blooded and so on).

Clearly a book about blood aimed at kids 10 and up needs to be fun and not everyone could pull that off, but Kyi does it handily. She’s helped here by illustrations from Steve Rolston that range from whimsical to graphic novel-style panels. The resulting book is both compelling and instructive and I’m guessing that kids will be enthralled. ◊

Sienna Powers is a transplanted Calgarian who lives and works in Vancouver, B.C. She is a writer and conceptual artist.

Holiday Gift Guide: One Dish at a Time by Valerie Bertinelli

Though the title is an obvious nod to the 1970s sitcom she starred in, Valerie Bertinelli’s One Dish at a Time (Rodale) would stand on its own in a cookbook competition, though it’s true Bertinelli’s celebrity status is what will get the book attention.

Since most of the actress’s earliest fans are now of an age to have children of their own, it seems possible that this book will be a popular choice for gift-giving this season. Especially since it celebrates food and family in a way that Bertinelli’s wholesome looks and reputation only add to. (Despite having spent a very long time married to rocker Eddie Van Halen.) Bertinelli also famously spent some time trying to shed a lot of weight, so the irony of a cookbook is missed by no one. Even so, the former weight loss spokesperson manages to address that aspect of her food background without coming even close to writing a diet cookbook.

One Dish at a Time is not a diet book. Instead, it assumes we all have learned or are in the process of learning moderation rather than deprivation. This book is about appreciating, celebrating, and enjoying good food, not being afraid to eat it.

Fans will enjoy the personal stories and photos from the author’s rather interesting life. But it is a cookbook, and food takes the front seat with recipes as healthy and wholesome as the author herself. From an egg white burrito for one and breakfast smoothies to a whole lot of Italian classics from Bertinelli’s background to “Mrs. Van Halen’s Bami Goreng” (with the “Mrs.” here being Eddie’s mom), One Dish at a Time feels like a biography in a well-photographed and produced cookbook. A welcome bonus: Bertinelli’s candor seems to warm each page. ◊

Monica Stark is a contributing editor to January Magazine. She currently makes her home on a liveaboard boat somewhere in the North Pacific.

Holiday Gift Guide: Books to Die For edited by John Connolly and Declan Burke

As much as readers may enjoy selecting their own literary diversions, they’re also curious to know what novels authors themselves have enjoyed. Which makes Books to Die For: The World’s Greatest Mystery Writers on the World’s Greatest Mystery Novels (Atria/Emily Bestler), a 560-page compilation of tributes to more than 120 memorable works of crime, mystery and thriller fiction, so delightful.

Edited by Hibernian wordsmiths John Connolly (The Burning Soul) and Declan Burke (who also compiled last year’s study of Irish crime fiction, Down These Green Streets), Books to Die For isn’t fully representative of what’s been published in this field over the last 171 years; notable omissions include Erle Stanley Gardner, Ellery Queen, Peter Lovesey, Thomas B. Dewey, Peter Robinson and Stanley Ellin. However, it serves as both a primer on the evolution of the genre and a welcome escort into its less-familiar corners.

Some of the essays included here were fairly predictable -- Max Allan Collins writing about Mickey Spillane’s I, the Jury, for instance, or Linwood Barclay extolling the virtues of Ross Macdonald’s The Goodbye Look. However, there are also unexpected pairings of contributor and subject matter. I particularly relished Mark Billingham’s remarks on The Maltese Falcon, by Dashiell Hammett; Laura Lippman’s recommendation of Love’s Lovely Counterfeit, by James M. Cain; Eddie Muller’s piece about The Big Heat, by William P. McGivern; Megan Abbott’s praise for In a Lonely Place, by Dorothy B. Hughes; James W. Hall’s encomium to LaBrava, by Elmore Leonard; Gary Phillips’ ovation for The Scene, by Clarence Cooper Jr.; Val McDermid’s study of On Beulah Height, by Reginald Hill; and ... well, the real problem here is that there are so many intriguing choices, it’s hard to know where in the book to begin.

Take my advice: Just flip open this volume at random. Chances are, you’ll learn something interesting from whatever you read first. ◊

J. Kingston Pierce is the senior editor of January Magazine, editor of The Rap Sheet and the lead crime-fiction blogger for Kirkus Reviews.

Holiday Gift Guide: American Science Fiction: Nine Classic Novels of the 1950s edited by Gary K. Wolfe

When I pulled American Science Fiction: Nine Classic Novels of the 1950s (Library of America) out of the box, I gave a little “whoop” of delight. Beautifully presented in a boxed, two-volume set, the packaging instantly evokes the most tantalizing volumes of my childhood.

This anthology includes nine groundbreaking works from the infant age of novels of science fiction. The works included here defined a genre. Double Star by Robert A. Heinlein, The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester, A Case of Conscience by James Blish, Who? by Algis Budrys, The Big Time by Fritz Leiber, The Space Merchants by Frederick Pohl and C.M. Kornbluth, More Than Human by Theodore Sturgeon, The Long Tomorrow by Leigh Brackett and The Shrinking Man by Richard Matheson.

Read back to back in this way, one hears a naiveté and a very different tone and direction than one hears in contemporary science fiction. It is indeed arguable to say that today’s science fiction has a less self-conscious edge. And I would also hazard that the best contemporary works are more writerly and generally skilled. But there is a raw, exploratory tone to some of these novels. These writers were exploring territory as new as the worlds they were writing about, and just as uncharted. Where could these explorations possibly go? And yet, 50 and 60 years on, here they still are.

Have someone mad for science fiction on your holiday list? American Science Fiction would be a good choice. ◊

Lincoln Cho is a freelance writer and editor. He lives in the Chicago area, where he works in the high-tech industry. He is currently working on a his first novel, a science-fiction thriller set in the world of telecommunications.

Holiday Gift Guide: Jack Kerouac Collected Poems

Looking over our shoulders, it’s easy to underestimate the poetic art of Jack Kerouac. We remember little beyond On the Road, one of the defining works of the Beat Generation. The book celebrated a life of drugs and jazz on the road in an elegant stream of consciousness screed. Helping the idea that there was little to the writer beyond The Road is the fact that Kerouac himself died too young. He was just 47 and died of an internal hemorrhage attributed both to a lifetime of heavy drinking and a bar fight a few weeks before. Life fast, die hard: this is not the epithet of a master. And yet.

I used to sit under trees and meditate
On the diamond bright silence of darkness
and the bright look of diamonds in space
and space that was stiff with lights
and diamonds shot through, and silence

(from Buddha)

Or this:

Someday you’ll be lying
there in a nice trance
and suddenly a hot
soapy brush will be
applied to your face
--it’ll be unwelcome
--someday the
undertaker’ll shave you

(from 2nd Chorus)

It’s been reported that Kerouac loved poetry and loved making poems and said that his novels were a direct outgrowth of the diverse poems that filled his notebooks throughout his life. Poetry was important to Kerouac, personally and to and for his art. A new book from The Library of America illustrates this as well as anything I’ve seen.

Jack Kerouac: Collected Poems is edited by poet, painter and short story writer Marilène Phipps-Kettlewell. “Jack Kerouac was like a man observing his river,” Phipps-Kettlewell writes, “sitting in the rain, letting it soak through his clothes, his skin, his being; a man weighed down, feeling the cold, his tears as opaque as his heart.”

The book brings together all of Kerouac’s major collected works along with many uncollected poems, some of which have been published here for the first time. ◊

Jones Atwater is a contributing editor to January Magazine.

Holiday Gift Guide: Fifty Shames of Earl Grey by Fanny Merkin

The title warns you not to expect high art and, in case you were ever in doubt, the cover confirms it. Yes, this is a parody of Fifty Shades of Grey. Of course it is. But there is a surprise or two left in store: in a market that seems clotted with mashups and parodies, Fifty Shames of Earl Grey (Da Capo) actually exceeds all expectations.

This is due entirely to the rapier wit of author, Andrew Shaffer. Though he writes this one as Fanny Merkin (and not everyone will get the double chuckle in that pen name, it’s there, though Americans may have to use Google for a bit to work it out) he's proven his mettle in other works.  The author of Great Philosophers Who Failed at Love, Shaffer is better known by his Twitter alter egos: EvilWylie, who comments on the publishing industry, and EmperorFranzen, a satirical send up of author Jonathan Franzen (Freedom, The Corrections). (“Chicks dig me,” EmperorFranzen’s Twitter bio proclaims, “I was on the cover of TIME. That's TIME magazine, bitches. ALSO: NO I AM NOT THE REAL J. FRANZEN. HE DOESN'T EVEN OWN A CLOAK.”

So clearly, Shaffer does funny for fun. Not only that, though everyone knows writing humor that is actually funny is difficult, Shaffer makes it look simple. The author has said that Fifty Shames of Earl Grey took him about 10 days to write and yet the writing is sharp and seemingly effortless.

The plot here seems immaterial. We have an arrogant rich dude named Earl Grey who seduces sweet young thing Anna Steal. Though the heroine -- if one can call her that -- of Fifty Shades of Grey is called Anastasia Steele, the two women couldn’t be less alike. Where Anastasia is -- let’s face it -- a bit of a milquetoast, Anna has been around the block a few times… and rather liked it.

Earl is only six years older than me, but sometimes the gulf between our ages seems like something I can’t bridge. It’s like he’s a 104-year-old vampire in a twenty-seven-year-old’s body.
“So you’re into some kinky shit,” I say. “That’s your biggest secret?”
“You don’t know the depths of my perversion,” he says.
I’ve already seen him at what I figured was the depth of his shame: buying a Nickleback CD. Do I want to know how deep his perversions go? Does he want me to follow him down that rabbit hole, into the dark recesses of his kinky mind?

Does she? Well, of course she does. But those who read the original books will already have been able to tell from that tiny snippet that the writing here is sharper, at least.

Shaffer has done a splendid job here. It’s like he went over Fifty Shades of Grey with a microscope and inflated and/or distorted everything in it that held the potential for humor. ◊

Aron Blanton is a contributing editor to January Magazine. He’s currently working on a book based on his experiences as an American living abroad.

Holiday Gift Guide: Florence: Art and Architecture and Venice: The Golden Centuries

If various reports are to be believed, the recession is drawing to a close. Even so, money is tight, gifts are precious and travel is dear. That might mean a lot of the things, but to me it means that gorgeous, elegant and rich books about wonderful places are going to be among the top holiday time gifts this year. How could they not be? Even an expensive book is a tiny fraction of the cost of a trip… and it can last ever so much longer.

Two great gift giving candidates come to us this season from H.F. Ullman. Florence: Art and Architecture and Venice: The Golden Centuries are both massive, impressive, filled with wonderful information and both books are relative bargains: pound for pound, these two might just be the best book bargains out there!

Neither of these books are contemporary travel guides which, in many ways, make them much better gifts. The information contained herein is not time sensitive or dependent. These are art books and, considering the topic at hand, both deal with the artistic history of the city under discussion. Noted scholars and historians contribute chapters to do with their own areas of expertise, while hundreds of images in each book complete the full illustration of two of the most artistically important cities in history. ◊

David Middleton is art director and art and culture editor of January Magazine.

SF/F: The Year’s Best Science Fiction edited by Gardner Dozois

The 29th publication of The Year’s Best Science Fiction (St. Martin’s Press) edited by Gardner Dozois annual needs little announcement, yet not discussing it at least a bit would seem like an oversight. Every year, Dozois rounds up the very best of SF/F from the previous year, offering readers the chance to see what genre masters are up to plus giving us a glimpse of where things are headed with the best of the best from the brightest of young things.

As usual, the anthology begins with a summation of the previous year by the editor. This time Dorzois puts emphasis on the importance of the e-book on various trends in SF/F, but also the importance of magazines that publish fiction, regardless of format. “If you’d like to see lots of good SF and Fantasy published every year,” the editor admonishes, “the survival of these magazines is essential, and one important way that you can help them survive is by subscribing to them.”

It’s a good point, too. Especially in this context, since almost all of the fiction in this anthology was initially published in a periodical of some description. This time out, the more than 300,000 words in the anthology includes short stories by Robert Reed, Alastair Reynolds, Maureen F. McHugh, Pat Cadigan, Elizabeth Bear and others. Gardner has a demonstrated talent for finding the best of the best and this year’s offering is no exception. ◊

Lincoln Cho is a freelance writer and editor. He lives in the Chicago area, where he works in the high-tech industry. He is currently working on a his first novel, a science-fiction thriller set in the world of telecommunications.

Holiday Gift Guide: 100 Grey Cups: This Is Our Game by Stephen Brunt

100 Grey Cups (McClelland & Stewart) strikes me as the very portrait of a gift book. It’s good. Sure it is. But, more than that, it’s embracing. You get that even non-readers would love this book, provided they love the topic. 100 Grey Cups is gorgeous, well-designed, but also comprehensive, a balanced, interesting and maybe even a perfect look at that most esoteric of topics: the 100 times the top honor for football has been awarded in Canada.

The book begins with a bit of cheerleading from CFL commissioner, Mark Cohon. “We Canadians are proud of our heritage,” Cohon begins, “and the Grey Cup is one of our country’s most enduring icons.”

While I’m not sure I would agree with the sentiment, I will grant that whoever gets this book as a gift likely will, and maybe that’s all that counts, making the reader proud that, in Cohon’s words, the Cup is “bigger and better and stronger than ever,” a claim that the balance of the book makes you realize is something worth stating.

Author Brunt (Gretzky’s Tears, Searching for Bobby Orr) knows sports inside and out and is the perfect tour guide for this intense look at the Grey Cup’s first 100 years. We see the broad strokes of a game that has often played second fiddle to its big American cousin south of the border as well as the fine details of important players, moves and games over the years.

Make no mistake, 100 Grey Cups is the football book in Canada this year. If you’re buying a gift for someone who loves Canadian sports, you won’t go far wrong with Brunt’s latest. ◊

David Middleton is art director and art and culture editor of January Magazine.

Holiday Gift Guide: True Blood: Eats, Drinks, and Bites from Bon Temps by Gianna Sobol and Alan Ball

True Blood: Eats, Drinks, and Bites from Bon Temps (Chronicle Books) represents the ultimate creative full circle. What is now an immensely popular television series began as the Southern Vampire Mystery Series by Charlaine Harris. The first book in the series, Dead Until Dark, debuted in 2001. Then came True Blood the television series in 2008. And now, four years later, we have the -- wait for it -- cookbook, co-authored by associate produced Gianna Sobol and creator, writer and producer of the series, Allan Ball. As such, this is an official series cookbook -- quite a few steps beyond “inspired by” -- and thus includes cast photos and production stills, and writing (ahem) straight from the mouths of Sookie and her pals.


Of course, being that producers and television writers tend not to be noted chefs, the authors had some help with the actual recipes. Though attributed to various series characters, the recipes were actually created by  Marcelle Bienvenue, co-author of the bestselling New Orleans heritage cookbook, Cooking Up A Storm.

Those venturing this far will find fairly standard Southern fare bedazzled with dark titles: Corn Bread of Life, Drop-Dead Tuna Cheese Casserole, Did I Kiss Your Grits?, Another Dead Chick-en Sandwich, Killer Lemonade and so on.

The recipes are fun if unexceptional, but the production values are high. Fans of the series will love this one. ◊

Monica Stark is a contributing editor to January Magazine. She currently makes her home on a liveaboard boat somewhere in the North Pacific.