30 Days of Dead

Once more, it's time for 30 Days of Dead where for each day in November you can download a high-quality MP3 of a Grateful Dead song. Even better than that, it's free.  

t's a Dead Head's most wonderful time of the year! Welcome to another 30 days of unreleased Grateful Dead tracks from the vault, one for every day of November, selected by archivist and producer David Lemieux. The tracks are yours, 100% free gua-ran-teed, but the real fun is taking part in the challenge for the chance to win some sweet swag from the Dead.

I've been downloading these since they started in 2010 and spent many hours listening and enjoying the Dead's music. 

Movie and TV Reviews - October 2026

Short reviews of movies and TV shows I watched in October. We're back to watching more TV now that the Jays season is over.

Movies

• Avatar: Fire and Ash. I enjoyed the first movie, the second not as much, and this one not at all. Far too long and the aliens being a clone of North American indigenous peoples is getting on my nerves. (Amazon Prime)
• Masterplan: A heist thriller about a master art forger who decides to steal the Mona Lisa. Well done, light entertainment. (Netflix)

TV Shows

• Neagley: A Reacher spin-off. I liked it more than the original show. More character development and Neagley isn't the superhero that Reacher has morphed into. (Amazon Prime)
• Red Queen (season 2): In this one, Antionia takes on the Russian mob. OK  Enjoyable enough if you don't think about it too much. (Amazon Prime)
• Lanterns: I'm not a big fan of superhero shows (especially Marvel), but this one was good, probably because I wasn't very familiar with the DC universe background. (HBO).
• The Good Ship Murders (season 3): Pretty locations,, pretty actors, but not much else. (BritBox)
• Pompeii: Out of Time. A three-part docudrama about t he eruption of Pompeii in AD 79 produced by National Geographic. A bit hokey in places but an accurate portrayal of what it would have been like to have been there. (Disney+)
• Below: A better than average big monster thriller set in a Newfoundland outport. Hopefully there will be a second season. (Netflix)
• North of North (seaon 2): No kidding about being north; this is set in Iqualuit. Not quite as funny as season 1, but still very enjoyable. (CBC Gem)
• Slow Horses (season 6): The denizens of Slough House end up on the run from Russian assassins. Highly entertaining. (Apple TV)
• Dark Matter (season 2): The storyline has gotten a lot more complicated and harder to follow, but it's still an entertaining show. (Apple TV)
• Black Doves: A well done, fast paced, and pulpy spy thriller starring Keira Knightley. (Netflix)

Photo of the Week - November 1, 2026

It being autumn (and a rather pleasant one), it's appropriate that this week's photo of a tree, with some leaves still remaining. Taken with my Pixel 8 Pro, slightly cropped and with the Dynamic filter applied in Google Photos.

An autumn tree

Saturday Sounds - Mahavishnu Orchestra - 1972/04/29 - Syracuse, NY

I am continually amazed at the gems that keep popping up in my YouTube feed. This week's example is a concert by the Mahavishnu Orchestra playing at the Skytop Lounge at the Syracuse University on April 29, 1972.

I saw them about 10 months later at Convocation Hall at the University of Toronto. From what I remember, the setlist was very similar to the one in this video. It was one of the best concerts I have ever seen. The band was telepathically connected and played over an hour of blazing, intense, and transcendent music. I saw them twice more in the 1970s, but neither of those concerts came close to the level of the Toronto concert. 

The musicians in this early version of the Mahavishnu Orchestra were:

• John McLaughlin - guitar
• Jan Hammer - keyboards
• Jerry Goodman - violin
• Rick Laird - bass guitar
• Billy Cobham - drums

The performance in this video comes close. The video quality is not great (it could use some AI upscaling), the audio is OK, but the performance is spectacular.. Enjoy. 

Three SF Antholgies Reviewed

I'm slowing working my way through my collection of science fiction anthologies. This review covers three anthologies featuring stories from 2018 and 2018 and 2019.

It's impossible to keep up with the flood of stories being published both in the traditional magazines and online, so the years' best anthologies are what I rely on for short fiction. I bookmark the stories I like and record the percentage of favourites out of the the total number of stories in the book as a guide to picking editors. I'm fairly ruthless in reading stories; if a story doesn't grab me in the first few pages, I skip it and move on.

The Best Science Fiction of the Year, Vol. 4 edited by Neil Clarke

Stories from this book are from 2018. My likes percentage was 55 or 16/29. 

These are the stories that really struck me. 

• "Domestic Violence" by Madeline Ashby
• "Ten Landscapes of Nili Fossae" by Ian McDonald. 
• "Requiem" by Vandana Singh. She is my favourite author discovery so far.
• "Nine Last Days of Planet Earth" by Daryl Gregory
• "Freezing Rain, A Chance of Falling" by L. X. Beckett
• "Hard Mary" by Sofia Samatar
• "OK, Glory" by Elizabeth Bear
• "Byzantine Empathy" by Ken Liu. Another author I need to pay more attention to. 
• "Meat and Salt and Sparks" by Rich Larson. I've enjoyed every story I've read by him. 
  

The Best Science Fiction of the Year, Vol. 5 edited by Neil Clarke

Stories from this book are from 2019. My likes percentage was 54 or 15/28.

These are the stories that really struck me.

• "The Painter of Trees" by Suzanne Palmer
• "Deriving Life" by Elizabeth Bear
• "The Little Shepherdess" by Gwyneth Jones
• "Such Thoughts are Unproductive" by Rebecca Campbell. Another author I need to watch.
• "Permafrost" by Alastair Reynolds. This was my favourite story in the book.
• "The Work of Wolves" by Tegan Moore
• "Mother Ocean" by Vandana Singh
• "old Media" by Annalee Newitz
• "The Ocean Between the Leaves" by Ray

The Year's Best Science Fiction, Vol. 1, The Saga Anthology edited by Jonathan Strahan

Stories from this book are from 2019. My like percentage was 57 or 16/28.

These are the stories that really struck me. 

• "The Bookstore at the End of America" by Charlie Jane Anders
• "The Painter of Trees" by Suzanne Palmer
• "Sturdy Lanterns and Ladders" by Malka Older
• "Cyclopterus" by Peter Watts
• "The Work of Wolves" by Tegan Moore
• "Emergency Skn" by N. K. Jemisin
• "Thoughts and Prayers" by ken Liu
• "Reunion" by Vandana Singh

If I had to rate the two editors, I'd say that the overall level of stories in Strahan's anthology was a bit better, but Clarke had more of the really memorable stories.

On the virtual TBR shelf, I have Strahan's Saga anthology from 2021 and three more Neil Clarke anthologies covering 2020 through 2022. In November, he'll be releasing an anthology covering 2025. I don't know if there will be ones forthcoming for 2023 and 2024. I will be getting the Locus anthology for 2025 sometime in the next month or two. My library doesn't get the anthologies edited by John Joseph Adams and based on the couple I've read, I doubt I will buy them unless they go on sale. But what I have will keep me going for quite a while. 

The US Versus Canada 18

It's time for another set of articles about the continuing contretemps between Canada and the United States. Last week, the separatist movement in Alberta got thoroughly trounced though I don't think the referendum results will make that issue fade away. And the trade war is still ongoing, though there are signs the Trump regime may be coming to its senses. So dive in. (Oldest articles are first). 

Algoma Steel is under attack by the US (image by Gemini)

Canada Just Robbed Harvard, MIT and the NIH in Broad Daylight. "While Trump spent the week shit posting Canada with 25th Amendment memes, 48 of America’s best scientists packed up and moved north this week. They’re not sad about it. They’re relieved." When I was a university student, the "brain drain" flowed the other way. 

The Canadian Beaver vs the American Eagle. "Two distinct onal symbols that provide insight about the metaphorical and real differences between these neighbours."

Canada Retaliates Against Trump’s Tariffs. "This won’t be easy, but it is necessary." And it seems to be working for us, given what just happened in Maine. 

While Donald Trump insults Canadians, a Michigan town fights back with a festival celebrating them — with butter tarts and Rush (gift link). "In Kalamazoo, Mich., locals are countering Donald Trump’s insulting rhetoric with a festival celebrating Canada."

I went to the most Canadian state in America to see what’s going to happen in November... and the next 50 years (gift link). "We assume the madness lies with Trump. What if it’s just America?" This is one of the better articles I've read on the subject. 

Danielle Smith Is Making Alberta Great for Trump. "Her embrace of MAGA has given separatists powerful American allies—allies who see the province as a prize." This article was written before the referendum. 

Trump’s Steel Tariffs Are Tearing Through Hamilton and Sault Ste. Marie. "What happens when cities with deep ties to the industry see hundreds of layoffs." I've lived in both cities mentioned in this article and seeing the industrial decline over the last 50 years is heartbreaking. The steel industry n both towns was just hanging on and Trump's tariffs have been disastrous. 

The Trump Regime Just Invented a Bullshit Narrative Accusing Canada of Election Interference On U.S. Letterhead From The US Embassy In Canada Because They Know They’re Going To Get Wiped Out. "The U.S. Embassy in Canada just invented a conspiracy about its host country on government stationery, 13 days before it loses the midterms."

Trump’s Administration Accuses Canada of Weaponizing Ronald Reagan. "Our northern neighbor has been caught in possession of Republican opinions with intent to distribute." It's all Doug Ford's fault.

World Fantasy Awards 2026

The winners of the World Fantasy Awards were announced last weekend at the World Fantasy Convention in Oakland, CA. These are the fiction winners.

NOVEL: Once Was Willem by M. R. Carey (Orbit/Orbit UK)

LONG FICTION: "Psychopomp & Circumstance" by Eden Royce (Tordotcom)

SHORT FICTION: “The Hungry Mouth at the Edge of Space and the Goddess Knitting at Home” by Renan Bernardo (Reactor, Aug. 27, 2025)

ANTHOLOGY: Storyteller: A Tanith Lee Tribute Anthology edited by Julie C. Day with Carina Bissett & Craig Laurance Gidney (Essential Dreams)

COLLECTION: Uncertain Sons and Other Stories by Thomas Ha (Undertow Publications)

I am surprised that Alix E. Harrow's The Everlasting didn't win the novel award, considering that it did win the Hugo.