Written by Jon Williams
Fall begins this weekend. As we close the book on summer and
inch closer to October and the spooky season, it’s entirely fitting that the
new season of American Horror Story
is now in full swing. Subtitled Apocalypse,
the acclaimed show’s eighth season began with a widespread nuclear attack
wiping out much of the world’s population, and then focused in on a small group
of survivors brought together by a mysterious “Cooperative.”
Praise for American
Horror Story began in 2011 with its first season. Murder
House dealt with a troubled family trying to make a new start by moving
to the West Coast; unfortunately, the house they bought for a steal had a
troubled history of its own, with its victims (both old and new) being quite a
bit livelier than you might expect. The star-studded cast featured Dylan
McDermott, Connie
Britton, and Kate
Mara, as well as Jessica
Lange, Taissa
Farmiga, Evan
Peters, Frances
Conroy, Alexandra
Breckenridge, Zachary
Quinto, Sarah
Paulson, Denis
O’Hare, and Lily
Rabe.
Although each season tells its own self-contained story,
many of these stars (and others) would become familiar faces in different roles
as the show progressed. The second season, Asylum,
added Chloe
Sevigny into the mix, and also featured James
Cromwell (who won an Emmy for Best Supporting Actor) and Joseph
Fiennes. The third season, Coven,
added Kathy
Bates, Angela
Bassett, and Emma
Roberts to the rotation of regulars, and starred Gabourey
Sidibe as well, as it detailed the exploits surrounding a school for young
witches. Freak
Show took on a circus sideshow act, adding Finn
Wittrock and John
Carroll Lynch (in a memorable role as Twisty the Clown), as well as Michael
Chiklis. Then came Hotel,
about a group of vampires living in a haunted hotel, led by Lady
Gaga’s Countess, and starring Wes
Bentley, Alexandra
Daddario, and Cheyenne
Jackson. The sixth season, Roanoke,
tells of a reality show and documentary taking place on the site of a famous
mass disappearance, and adds Andre
Holland and Cuba
Gooding Jr. to the cast. Then last season, Cult,
took on the aftermath of the 2016 U.S. presidential election, with Alison
Pill joining the fray.
With Apocalpyse, American Horror Story creators Ryan
Murphy and Brad Falchuk are in the midst of their eighth season of acclaimed,
award-winning television, and the show has already been renewed to run at least
through its tenth season. Even outside of this show, they are no stranger to
good, popular television. Murphy created the show Nip/Tuck
in 2003, and met Falchuk while working on it. When it ended, they joined forces
to create the musical sensation Glee,
which ran for six seasons. They created the two-season series Scream
Queens, and they also serve as executive producers for another
anthology series, American
Crime Story, whose first season focused on the O.J. Simpson trial and
whose second season, The Assassination of
Gianni Versace, took home five trophies at this week’s Emmy Awards. They
also created the series 9-1-1
focusing on first responders, currently in its second season.
Television lovers are always looking for good new shows to
binge-watch, and with Halloween right around the corner, American Horror Story is a can’t-miss. The varied storylines and
incredible performances are sure to keep viewers coming back for more. Find all
previous
seasons on our website so your patrons can get caught up with all the
horrific happenings that have led into this season as well as whatever the show
has in store for the future.
Written by Jon Williams
On August 31, the entire eight-episode first season of Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan became available
for streaming. This new iteration brings the character to life for the first
time since 2014, and to the small screen for the first time ever. Positive
critical and viewer reactions are already rolling in, and the series has
already been renewed for a second season.
This time around Ryan is played by John
Krasinski, as the series focuses on the early days of the burgeoning CIA
agent’s career. Krasinski has been in the pop culture spotlight lately as the
star, director, and co-writer of the hit horror flick A
Quiet Place, which came out earlier this year. He is probably even
better known for his breakout role as Jim Halpert on The
Office, which he played for the entirety of the comedy series’
nine-season run. The rest of Jack Ryan’s
main cast is rounded out by Wendell
Pierce, Abbie
Cornish, Ali
Suliman, and Dina
Shihabi.
The show may be new, but the character of Jack Ryan is
anything but. He originally came to be in Tom Clancy’s 1984 The
Hunt for Red October. The novel tells how Jack Ryan, at this point a
young CIA analyst, helps to ensure the defection of a grizzled Soviet navy
captain with a devastating new submarine. The book became a bestseller
following huge critical reaction, including an endorsement from U.S. President
Ronald Reagan. Ryan has since featured in more than twenty novels, including such
titles as Clear
and Present Danger, Executive
Orders, Command
Authority, the recently released Line
of Sight, and the forthcoming Oath
of Office. Sadly, author Tom
Clancy passed away in 2013, but the mantle of writing the Ryan character
has been taken on by fellow authors Mark
Greaney, Mike
Maden, and Marc
Cameron.
And that’s where Jack Ryan’s screen presence left off, until
the new streaming series debuted two weeks ago. As more and more people
discover the show, Tom Clancy’s audiobooks and the past movies are sure to be
in demand. Use the links above to find the materials, or SmartBrowse ‘Jack Ryan’
on our website for a full list of audiobooks we carry in the series.
Written by Jon Williams
The music world lost a legend last week with the passing of
the Queen of Soul, Aretha
Franklin. She was 76.
While Aretha’s mother passed at a young age, her father was
a well-known minister, giving her exposure to influential gospel singers of the
time, including Mahalia
Jackson and Clara
Ward, both of whom served as role models. Aretha began touring and
performing with her father when she was just 12, and her first single was
released when she was 14. She stuck with gospel until she was 18, at which time
she moved to New York with hopes of breaking into the pop music world. Her
first secular album, Aretha: With the Ray
Bryant Combo, was released early in 1961, just before her 20 th
birthday.
The rest, as they say, is history. She went on to have one
of the great careers of all time, recording such iconic, instantly recognizable
hits as “Respect,” “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman,” and “I Say a
Little Prayer,” among so many others. In 2008, music authority Rolling Stone named her the greatest
singer of all time. With a career that spanned more than five decades, her
influence is legendary, inspiring generations of singers and musicians with her
talent and powerful performances. Some of these notable names include Whitney
Houston, Beyonce,
and Jennifer
Hudson, who Franklin herself chose to play her in an upcoming biopic.
We join the music and pop culture worlds in mourning the
monumental loss of Aretha Franklin. SmartBrowse her name on our website to find
a number of collections of her music, as well as a few related audiobooks and
films (including her incredible performance in the classic comedy The
Blues Brothers). Patrons can also check out her wonderful music,
including a broad collection of original albums, on hoopla
digital.
Written by Jon Williams
In an age of reboots and revivals, it takes a piece of
seriously big news to command the attention of the pop culture landscape.
That’s exactly what happened recently when first rumours started to swirl and
then actual confirmation happened that Patrick Stewart would return to the role
of Jean-Luc Picard in a new Star Trek
series being developed. The series will explore the further adventures and
later life of the beloved man who once commanded the bridge of the iconic
starship Enterprise.
Although he had already been acting for many years, many
people, especially in the United States, had their first exposure to Stewart
when Star Trek: The Next Generation
debuted in 1987. That show breathed new life into a popular franchise that,
nevertheless, had been off television for nearly twenty years. It worked; the
show ran for seven
seasons and then, like the original series before it, spawned several big-screen
adventures, with Stewart continuing to lead the cast from the show. All in
all, he ended up portraying Jean-Luc Picard for fifteen years. It’s been
sixteen years since the last time, in the 2002 movie Star Trek: Nemesis, and fans are
eager to see what has become of the intrepid captain in the meantime—just as Stewart
is himself, calling the opportunity to return “…an unexpected but
delightful surprise.” Although he was initially skeptical of performing in a
sci-fi television show, he eventually came to appreciate the reach the show had
and the impact it had on fans’ lives.
Seeming to confirm his initial skepticism, though, for a
time the popularity of Star Trek: The Next Generation hindered him from landing
other roles, as filmmakers felt that having “Captain Picard” show up in their
project would distract the audience. Stewart finally got around this by jumping
into a similar part in another sci-fi franchise. In 2000’s X-Men,
he portrayed for the first time Professor Charles Xavier, who runs a school to
teach youngsters with freakish abilities (called “mutants”) how to control and
use them responsibly. As with Star Trek,
the role lingered, with Stewart playing Professor Xavier in a total of seven
movies, most recently (and for the final time) in 2017’s critically acclaimed Logan.
Despite the typecasting, Stewart’s talent has won out,
allowing him to carve out quite a nice and well-rounded acting career for
himself. Prior to Star Trek he had roles in such films as Hennessy,
his 1975 film debut, Excalibur,
and Dune.
He showed off his comedic side as King Richard in the 1993 spoof Robin
Hood: Men in Tights, just before his Star Trek role jumped to the big screen in Generations.
On television, he has brought a number of literary and theatrical classics to
life, including I,
Claudius, Tinker,
Tailor, Soldier, Spy, Hamlet,
and Macbeth,
to name just a few. And with his deep, distinctive voice, it’s no surprise that
he’s also done quite a bit of voice acting. He recently had a memorable role in
The
Emoji Movie, and has also lent his voice to such favourites as The
Prince of Egypt, Chicken
Little, and Gnomeo
& Juliet. He maintains a recurring role on the long-running
animated series American
Dad!, and his association with creator Seth MacFarlane led to him
serving as the narrator for both Ted
and Ted
2. He also narrated the Tim Burton classic The
Nightmare Before Christmas.
Patrick Stewart is an actor whose performances are always
incredible, and the news that he’s returning to Star Trek is sure to put his work in the spotlight as never before.
Make sure you have The Next Generation
shows and movies on your shelves for patrons to discover or relive, and
SmartBrowse his name on our website to see a full list of what we have to offer
from his impressive career. And for more Star
Trek, be sure to pre-order the first season of Discovery,
available in November, before the second season premieres in early 2019.
Written by Jon Williams
The calendar may have just flipped over to August, but as
far as we’re concerned, it’s never too early to start thinking about Halloween.
You can look forward to plenty of Halloween media ideas from us between now and
October, and what better way to kick it off than with a master of the creepy
tale, a man whose work has been the basis for countless pleasant shivers in the
dead of night? After an early career writing humour aimed at kids, R.L. Stine
eventually came to the conclusion that he’d rather frighten them. His first
kids’ horror novel, Blind Date, was
published in 1986, and the rest is history. According to his website, he’s
written well over 300 books in the intervening 32 years, including a number of
wildly popular series.
By far his most well-known series is Goosebumps. Begun in
1992 with Welcome
to Dead House, the classic series ran through 1997 and comprised a
total of 62 books. Goosebumps has taken on a life of its own with a number of
spinoff and companion series, some of which continue to this day. One of those
is called SlappyWorld,
featuring Slappy, a ventriloquist’s dummy come to life with scary stories of
his own to tell. Slappy made his first appearance very early on, in 1993’s Night
of the Living Dummy, and became a primary antagonist in the 1995
follow-up. From there he took on a life of his own, so to speak, appearing
in several
HorrorLand books (yet another Goosebumps-adjacent series) before spawning
his own series in 2017’s Slappy
Birthday to You. There are currently five books in the series, with Escape
from Shudder Mansion just releasing late in July, and more to come.
Of course, popular as it was and still is, Goosebumps was
not Stine’s first book series. That honour goes to Fear Street, which started in
1989 with The New Girl. Recent titles
in this series include Party
Games and Don’t
Stay Up Late. Also released in late July, You
May Now Kill the Bride is the first book in a new Return to Fear Street
series. And Fear Street fans can look forward to renewed interest in the
series, with Fox recently announcing plans for three theatrical films to be
based on stories from the books.
And although Stine has made his name in the world of
publishing, he is certainly no stranger to the screen. As his writing career
was gaining traction in the early 1990s, he helped create and wrote for the
children’s TV series Eureeka’s Castle.
Shortly thereafter, Goosebumps
was turned into an anthology TV series that ran for four seasons. In 2007, the
movie The
Haunting Hour: Don’t Think About It was made, loosely adapted from a
book of Stine’s short stories, and that too was spun off into a
successful anthology series, winning a number of Daytime Emmys among other
awards. And in 2015, Goosebumps
became a feature film starring Jack Black as R.L. Stine himself. A sequel, Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween, is due
in theatres in October.
R.L. Stine has been giving young readers the creeps for more
than thirty years now, and in so doing, has inspired generations of kids to
develop a love of reading that has carried them into adulthood (and adults who
grew up reading him as kids should check out Red
Rain, his grown-up horror novel written in tribute to longtime fans).
As his popularity expands with each new book and movie, continue to share his
work with eager young readers and listeners. You can search his name on our
website for all his works we carry in audiobook
and Playaway,
and point your patrons to hoopla, where they can find a wide selection of his
books in both audio
and eBook.
Written by Jon Williams
Comic-Con International kicked off yesterday in San Diego. Beginning
in 1970 and initially focused primarily on comic books, SDCC has evolved into a
preeminent pop-culture showcase extravaganza that goes far beyond just comics (although
they are still a large part of the show) and into the realms of movies and TV.
Here is a quick look at some of the television titles, both beloved favourites
and soon-to-be breakthroughs, that will be holding panels and releasing news as
the convention progresses through Sunday.
A natural outgrowth of comics is into animation, a format
that is often associated with children’s entertainment. A number of animated
children’s television shows will be at Comic-Con. One of those is Adventure
Time, the beloved cartoon whose tenth and final season is all set to
wrap up, with just the series finale remaining. Lego’s animation has become
quite a force in entertainment, and Lego
Ninjago will be represented at Comic-Con as well. Fans will also be
able to hear about the upcoming seventh season of Voltron:
Legendary Defender, a reboot of the classic Voltron
series from the ‘80s. Another reboot comes in the form of DuckTales,
the new adventures of Scrooge McDuck and his nephews Huey, Dewey, and Louie.
And in a bit of surprise news, it was announced yesterday that Star
Wars: The Clone Wars will return for one final 12-episode arc to
complete the series.
Of course, cartoons aren’t just for kids anymore, and
animated entertainment for grown-ups is very much on Comic-Con’s agenda. The
Simpsons is the longest-running sitcom in American history, animated or
otherwise, and at Comic-Con will be looking ahead to its 30 th
season. In addition, creator Matt Groening (who also created Futurama)
will be presenting his new series, Disenchantment.
Similarly long-running Seth MacFarlane staples Family
Guy (going into its 17 th season) and American
Dad (13 th season) will be represented, as will Bob’s
Burgers (9 th season) and Archer
(10 th season).
Horror television is a genre that has seen quite a bit of
growth lately, and that will be reflected in big panels for both The
Walking Dead, which will undergo some big changes in its upcoming ninth
season, and Fear
the Walking Dead, which returns for the second half of its fourth
season on August 12. Carrying on the zombie theme is Z
Nation, soon to return for its fifth season. From the mind of Stephen
King comes the second season of Mr.
Mercedes, based on his book
trilogy, as well as Castle Rock, a
new series not directly from King’s writings but set in and around a town that
features prominently in many of his works. Also making the leap from the page
to the screen are The Passage, from
Justin Cronin’s vampire
trilogy, and Nightflyers, based
on a novella from Game of Thrones
author George
R.R. Martin.
Then there’s sci-fi and fantasy TV, which has perhaps the
largest presence at this year’s convention. The granddaddy of them all is Doctor
Who, which will have a huge panel in preparation for its eleventh
season and first female Doctor, played by Jodie Whittaker. Fans can also look
forward to panels on Star Trek: Discovery,
the latest series in that massive
universe, as well as the Trek-inspired
homage from Seth MacFarlane, The Orville.
Legion
and The Gifted both tie into the X-Men
universe, while Preacher
is adapted from the Vertigo comics series. A Charmed
reboot is coming this fall, and fans of witches can also look forward to A Discovery of Witches, adapted from
Deborah Harkness’s novels. Finally, The
Magicians, a series based on Lev
Grossman’s novels, recently wrapped its third season and will return next
year for a fourth.
And there are also plenty of shows that don’t easily fit
into any of these categories. Riverdale
makes perfect sense for Comic-Con, as it is based on classic Archie Comics
characters. Breaking
Bad’s panel will celebrate ten
years since the show premiered, and the spinoff/prequel, Better
Call Saul, will be there as well to focus on the upcoming fourth
season. The surreal life-after-death comedy The
Good Place will look ahead to its third season, while the historical
drama Vikings
prepares for its midseason premiere. And the trend of reboot continues with a
new iteration of Magnum
P.I. coming in September.
That’s a lot of TV—and that’s just a small portion of all
the movie, comic, and other pop-culture media properties that will be
exhibiting at Comic-Con International in San Diego this year. What are you and
your patrons looking forward to hearing about? Let us know, and stay in touch
with CVS Midwest Tape for all the latest news as these shows and more make their
way onto DVD and Blu-ray.
Written by Jon Williams
AudioFile, a magazine dedicated to
reviewing audiobooks, calls the annual Audie Awards “the Oscars of the
audiobook industry.” Since 1996, the Audio Publishers Association has handed
out these prestigious awards to the best audiobooks of the year. This year’s
gala was held at the New York Historical Society on May 31, hosted by Simon
Vance, himself an Audie-winning narrator several times over.
The novel Lincoln in the Bardo (written by
George Saunders and narrated by Nick Offerman, David Sedaris, and a
star-studded full cast) took home the night’s biggest prize, the coveted
Audiobook of the Year award. Angie Thomas’s The Hate U Give (narrated by Bahni
Turpin) scored wins in two categories: Young Adult and Best Female Narrator. Born a Crime by Daily Show host Trevor Noah (self-narrated) won for Best Male
Narrator, while Neil Gaiman’s Norse Mythology won in the Narration
by the Author category.
Finally, we
offer hearty congratulations to our friends at Dreamscape Media, who produced
the winner in History/Biography. Written by Patricia Hruby Powell and narrated
by Adenrele Ojo and MacLeod Andrews, Loving vs. Virginia is the tale of a
landmark civil rights case that went all the way to the Supreme Court. Well done
to everyone involved!
Click
here for our collection of all the Audie Award-winning audiobooks, or see
the list below for individual titles.
Audio Drama:
Brother Francis by Paul McCusker (various
narrators)
Autobiography/Memoir:
Born
to Run by Bruce Springsteen (narrated by the author)
Best Female
Narrator: The
Hate U Give by Angie Thomas (narrated by Bahni Turpin)
Best Male
Narrator: Born
a Crime by Trevor Noah (narrated by the author)
Business/Personal
Development: Peak
Performance by Brad Stullberg and Steve Magness (narrated by Christopher
Lane)
History/Biography:
Loving
vs. Virginia by Patricia Hruby Powell (narrated by Adenrele Ojo and
MacLeod Andrews)
Humor: Carpet
Diem by Justin Lee Anderson (narrated by Matthew Lloyd Davies)
Inspirational
Fiction: Catching
the Wind by Melanie Dobson (narrated by Nancy Peterson)
Inspirational
Non-Fiction: Fire
Road by Kim Phuc Phan Thi (narrated by Emily Woo Zeller)
Literary
Fiction: House
of Names by Colm Toibin (narrated by Juliet Stevenson, Charlie Anson,
and Pippa Nixon)
Multi-Voiced:
Restart by Gordon Korman (various
narrators)
Non-Fiction:
American
Wolf by Nate Blakeslee (narrated by Mark Bramhall)
Original
Work: Romeo and Juliet: A Novel by
David Hewson (narrated by Richard Armitage)
Paranormal: Curse on the Land by Faith Hunter
(narrated by Khristine Hvam)
Science
Fiction: Provenance by Ann Leckie
(narrated by Adjoa Andoh)
Short
Stories: The Language of Thorns by
Leigh Bardugo (narrated by Lauren Fortgang)
Thriller/Suspense:
The Fourth Monkey by J.D. Barker
(narrated by Edoardo Ballerini and Graham Winton)
Young
Listeners: Trombone
Shorty by Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews (narrated by Dion Graham)
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