Notes by Owen G. Tabard

It was a muggy Sunday evening in South Florida, and even in October the mosquitos were out in force, but still, the crowd was eager. We were there at the Pompano Beach Amphitheater, of course, to see Yes, that venerable institution of prog rock, in Florida on their Classic Tales of Yes tour. But as the sun sank low, and the house lights dimmed, it was not the band who took the stage—at least, not the officially.  When Roger Dean opened the show it was a better treat for Yes fans than any other opening act could have been. Dean has been an integral part of Yes since the beginning, having designed the famous bubble logo. A consummate draftsman, Dean’s artwork has graced about half the group’s albums, providing a surrealist landscape as a backdrop for some of the greatest prog albums of all time. You might even say that Yes’s honorary sixth member really stole the show, taking the audience through a slide presentation of drawings and paintings, with fascinating revelations of his artist

Cirsova's The Mighty Sons of Hercules, Volume I, debuted on Amazon this past weekend. So if you missed the kickstarter for this outstanding anthology, now's your chance to get in on the action! In addition to my own contribution, this anthology features seven pulse-pounding stories of peplum adventure, from authors Abraham Strongjohn , Misha Burnett , Nathan Dabney , Michael Tierney , Adrian Cole , J. Manfred Weischel , and Mark Mellon . As for my own story, below is the description from the publisher: "The Tyrant of Syracuse has kidnapped a princess returning from a journey to Delphi, sinking her ship in the very bay of his city!  However, unbeknownst to the Tyrant, a Son of Hercules was aboard the boat which ferried her in Owen G. Tabard's  Mighty Umaeo and the Tyrant's Test !"