Page 29 - The Gluckman Occasional Number Eleven

Merrill Merritt and his Feral Ferret by Jonah Vark (Pubz), Prince
Shagilox and the Tattooed Maiden by Augie N. Stables (Terato
Books) and The Curse of the Charm Bracelet by Mary Andrews
(Absinthe). Three new entries in the “young adult” fiction category
have come to the attention of the Occasional. They reflect both the
advance in superficial sophistication and retreat in propositional
profundity of the current generation of adolescents—or the authors
supplying them with escape fiction. Merritt is a boy on a mission: he
trapped a wild ferret and showed it off to all his friends. Now it has
escaped and is eating their pets and backyard fowl. Only Merritt’s
girlfriend, Alondra Matthews, whose white mouse has fallen into the
mustelid’s mandibles, has the power to charm the beast back into its
cage. Prince Shagilox has the look and feel of a fairy-tale hero retold
in modern dress: he must overcome difficult visa requirements, a
bank overdraft and a shoot-out with Interpol to arrive at the court of
Teufelsdreck in time to save his lady-love from the dermatologist’s
laser. The maledicted trinket tale would have its readers suspend
disbelief in the unchecked evil powers of corporate America: its
protagonist, Donna Prima, enlists the aid of her wunderkind math
tutor, Chip Oatley, to find the password unlocking the “smart
bangle” placed on her wrist by her parole officer. Then she will be
able to break into the jewelry store where she was accused of
shoplifting and find evidence to prove her innocence. If your
teenager has difficulty parsing simple English sentences, these books
may be the perfect gift.

Music

Rare and Unissued, 1947-63 (Folksy 3225). The back-country and
front-porch musicians of this great land would be forgotten were it
not for the amateur ethnomusicologists and the field recordings they
made for Folksy’s founder, Lew Tosh. Of note in this collection are
“Model-T Breakdown” (Elder Berry and his Pickers), “Train to
Nowhere” (The Nothing Special), “Hootenanny Goat” (Ramblin’
Rance) and “Colonel Bogey’s Cha-cha” (Sandy Piper and the
Pipettes). Of lesser interest, perhaps owing to the ambient sound or
rudimentary equipment, were the pieces by The Small Arm Band (the
NRA’s harmonica duo), the singer “Yiddl mit a Yodel” and the
circumcision ritual of the Umbagu (despite some great drumming).
Recommended for Folksy catalogue completists.