English Renaissance

When we think of Venice, we think of masks, canals, murals and frescoes, and little “gondoliers” with picturesque boats. Venice, indeed, has an impressive artistic history. But did you know that Venice was also, for a while, a considerably sized empire? Although no enduring historic records associate with the creation of Venice, the Republic of Venice's history is typically said to start at 12 a.m. on Friday, March 25th, AD 421, when authorities from Padua established the city to develop a trading center in that area of northern Italy.

Henry IV is not famous except for the plays that bear his name: He is not even a "much-maligned" king. He is normally overshadowed by his far more famous son, Henry V, despite his many achievements. Shakespeare is partly to blame for Henry's diminution and his son's exaggerated stature but not completely; we just don't know what to make of a man who took the throne from the rightful king.

The Disembodied Man was published only once, in the legendary SF pulp zine Imagination in the early 1950s. Off-beat and humorous, like much of Maddock's work, it is at once a unique tale of an unconventional romance and an intricate puzzler with two O'Henry-like twists, resulting in a delightfully human and touching short story.

A rich English gentleman thinks he has found the perfect caretaker for an isolated cottage near the sea: a veteran sailor with a taste for solitude. But when he returns to the cottage months later, the gentleman can find no trace of the caretaker. Then he is savagely attacked by a seagull, normally the most pacifistic of creatures.

Here is the fascinating story of the Edison Phonograph Company and its "Hill and Dale" vertical recording process, illustrated by musical examples from vintage recordings of legendary jazz band, The California Ramblers (which included famed trumpeter Red Nichols and other jazz greats)! This is the behind-the-scenes story of the invention, development and commercial promotion of the phonograph by Thomas Alva Edison, the "Genius of Menlo Park."