Tish Wells

‘The Last Policeman’ on job as world ends

“THE LAST POLICEMAN.” By Ben H. Winters. Quirk Books. $14.96.

In Ben H. Winters’ new mystery, “The Last Policeman,” a massive asteroid named Maia will hit Earth in six months. The human race is reacting badly to the lack of a future.

So who cares about a suicide in the restroom of the local McDonald’s in Concord, N.H.?

Wednesday begins countdown to 'end of the world'

 

 

 

WASHINGTON - When the summer solstice arrives Wednesday, it will mark six months until the winter solstice on Dec. 21, when, according to some people’s reading of the Mayan Long Count calendar, the world will be destroyed.

Queen Elizabeth II is shown in North Wales during “The Diamond Queen,” a three-part documentary premiering at 6 p.m. today on BBC America.
BBC

BBC showcases 'Diamond Queen'

It's going to be a very British summer. Along with the Olympics in London, it is the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II, the celebration of her 60 years of monarchy.

Kicking off the celebration tonight, BBC America has a three-part documentary "The Diamond Queen," which probably will be repeated endlessly. Narrated by writer Andrew Marr, it looks at a hardworking royal whose real power lies in her immense dignity and human touch.

NYC under water in illustrated novel

"JOE GOLUM AND THE DROWNING CITY." By Mike Mignola and Christopher Golden. St. Martin's Press. $25.99.

Stir in a little Lovecraft and magic, season it with apocalyptic gloom, and you have "Joe Golum and the Drowning City."

Horror author Christopher Golden and artist Mike Mignola, creator of the comic "Hellboy," have collaborated on an illustrated novel.

The police procedural “Whitechapel” returns to BBC America at 8 p.m. Wednesday.

Carnival Film & Television Limited 2012

'Whitechapel' is back, and as good as before

Viewers always wonder if a series will be as good the second time around.

In the case of BBC America's "Whitechapel," it is. This intriguing British police procedural show returns Wednesday with a new story torn from very old headlines -- the 1812 Ratcliff Highway murders.

A dark 'Noel': Batman meets Charles Dickens

"BATMAN: NOEL." By Lee Bermejo. DC Comics. $22.99.

Somewhere out there, there's a version of Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" where clerk Bob Cratchit takes an axe to his employer, Scrooge, steals his cashbox and escapes to the Bahamas without his family. The story has been reinterpreted time and time again in stage, screen, animation, book and probably ancient Greek.

Cat hair crafts, couture

CRAFTING WITH CAT HAIR: CUTE HANDICRAFTS TO MAKE WITH YOUR CAT. By Kaori Tsutaya, translated from the Japanese by Amy Hirschman. Quirk Books. 96 pages. $14.95.

According to the Humane Society, there are approximately 86.4 million cats owned in the United States.

And most of them shed.

Blogger/writer Kaori Tsutaya, a cat lover from Japan, has found a use for all that fine fur that usually ends up on an owner's pants, shirts, bedspreads, chairs and carpets.

'Rosemary's Baby' mash-up has some bugs

"BEDBUGS." By Ben H. Winters. Quirk Books, Philadelphia. $14.95.

After reading "Bedbugs" you might want to fumigate any apartment you rent. You also might want to call in an exorcist.

Latest literary mash-up a Kafkaesque furball

"THE MEOWMORPHOSIS." By Franz Kafka & Coleridge Cook. Quirk Books. $12.95.

Not even changing the cockroach into a kitten can help the latest literary mash-up -- "The Meowmorphosis"

Coleridge Cook takes a well-written stab at Franz Kafka's depressing novella "The Metamorphosis" and turns it into ... well, a slightly less gloomy tale. Where Kafka turned his lead character, Gregor Samsa, into a beetle, Cook transforms him into an adorable fluffy kitten.

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