Ray Russell

From the Shelf: Autumn Chills Horror is not my favorite genre, but sometimes a really good horror novel falls into my hands, likeThose Across the River by Christopher Buehlman. When I first read it, I accidentally skipped the preface, so thought it was a 'straight' novel with moody and lush prose--honey-thick air, the whirrof locusts, sweat- and sex-damp sheets, a milky moon--but he slowly built in chilling curves that threw me into one of the best books of 2011. Buehlman followed this with Between Two Fires; our reviewer said it starts out as a medieval variation on True Grit, but shifts into horror with welcome echoes of early Stephen King. October brings The Necromancer's House, with a sexy but murderous rusalka (a Slavic water nymph), a handsome warlock perhaps in over his head, and an unstoppable evil in a blend of horror and urban fantasy.

The music lineup at Lincoln Center Festival 09 includes US debuts by Algerian music icon Idir and Moroccan Chaabi singer Najat Aatabou; a double bill with Justin Adams and Juldeh Camara, and Issa Bagayogo; and a tribute to celebrated New Orleans songwriter Wardell Quezergue, featuring a roster of noted musical artists from that city's annual Ponderosa Stomp music festival.