BITS & PIECES

Openers:   The pink curtain hung within inches of his cheek.  J could imagine sly little fox ears, sharpening, the other side of the flimsy cloth where another human being could, if he chose, listen to every word.  There was no help for it.  J didn't find it appropriate to whisper all the way from Chicago to southern California. 

"Sophia?"  (He tried to sound like himself in spite of his sense of an eavesdropper.)  "Listen, don't meet the plane.  I'm not gong to on it."

His wife began to wail, and he interrupted.  "I'm in the damn hospital."

Sophia's voice changed immediately.  "What's the matter?" she demanded.

"Not a darned thing.  Ridiculous!  But I'm kinda trapped.  They won't let me go until to morrow."

"J, what happened to you?"  Sophia's concern sounded like anger.  It often did.

"All it was," he told her, "I almost got hit by a car, and do mean almost.  Skinned my knee.  Big deal!  Seems the old biddy who was driving the car is pretty much in the chips, and she's got me hemmed in by her doctors and her lawyers.  She doesn't want to get sued.  So here I..."

"J, shall I come?"  He could hear Sophia's mind checking off her chores.  Empty the refrigerator.  Call off the Neebys.

"No, no," he said.  "they've already gone over me, up and down and sideways.  I'd have one heck of a time developing a nice expensive injury now.  I'm supposed to settle.  Listen, I'm having the hotell change my nreservation to the same flight tomorrow.'

"J, are you sure>?"

"Sure I'm sure."  J relaxed because he could tell that shewas relazing.  "now, they insist they've got to take pictures of every bone in my hand, and it's a damned nuisance, but it's anyhow for free.  Thing nis, I can't get out of here till the doctors say so."

After speaking with his wife, J (no initial, please) Middleton Little, 49, a man as innocuous as his name, decided to take a stroll through the hospital.  When nhe returned to his room, he found that his former roommate had been moved.  A new roommate was there, old, very sick, and unconscious.  J went into the bathroom and soon heard another man enter the room.  His roommate -- who had no idea -- I was in the room, regained consciousness and began talking with his visitor.  Remembering his thoughts about being overheard whiloe J was talking to his wife, he decided tp remain quiet.  The roommate and his visitor, each believing they were alone, had a strange conversation which J could not make much sense of.  Something very important was being discussed, but what?

After the visitor left, J waited a few minutes, then exited the bathroom.  His roommate realized that J had overheard all, but was not sure if J realized exactly what he had heard.  His roomamte spun some sort of tale that the world was coming to an end and that scientists had prepared a spot on the moon for a few chosen survivors.  He offered J seven seats to the moon to be used by his family if J promised not to reveal what he had heard.  A part of J actually believed this concoction.  The problem was that J had ten people in his family -- wife, children, grandchildren, and in-laws.  Who would he chose to save?  and who will not be saved?

Whatever the actual story was, whatever J had overheard, hinted at a vast, important secret, and j Middleton Little unconsciously held the secret to a lethal timetable, bringing this unassuming man into a web of terror and destruction.

Charlotte Armstrong (1905-1969) held the throne of the queen of domestic suspense during her long career as a writer that produced 28 novels, two short story collections, and several plays and screenplays; an additional novel and a third collection of stories were published posthumously.  After writing two plays that did not fare well on Broadway, she turned to writing mystery novels, including three that featured detective MacDougal Duff.   The best-selling author won an Edgar Award in 1957 for her novel A Dram of Poison.  Two other novels -- The Gift Shop (1966) and Lemon in the Basket (1967) -- were also nominated for an Edgar, as were three of her short stories.  Eight of her novels were either serialized or abridged in major fiction magazines of the time.  Her novel The Unsuspected (1946) was filmed as Talk About a Stranger, and her novel Mischief (1951) was filmed as Don't Bother to Knock, a major vehicle for Marilyn Monroe -- and her first co-starring headlining role.  Of particular note is her short story "The Enemy," a powerful and unforgettable allegory sharply criticizing McCarhy era politics.

She used the pseudonym "Jo Valentine" for her 1953 novel The Troble in Thor and published her 1941 play Ring Around Elizabeth as "Char Armstrong."  Her common nickname throughout her life was "Charl."

Insight, strong characterization, and a tightening feeling of suspense were her trademarks.  Here she displays them well.

Incoming:

• Charlotte Armstrong, Night Call and Other Stories of Suspense.  Kindle.  Posthumous collection of fifteen stories, none previously collected and two previously unpublished.  Patti Abbott recently resurrected ED Gorman's spot-on review of this collection, which see.  http://pattinase.blogspot.com/2023/07/night-call-and-other-stories-of.html
• John Dickson Carr, The Kindling Spark:  Early Tales of Mystery, Horror, and Adventure.  A collection of early stories (including ones written in his high school days) plus a short detective novel about Henri Bencolin, Carr's first series detective, and a collection of seven sketches written with Frederic Prokosh, entitled "The New Canterbury Tales."  "From Little Acorns...Grow the works of extraordinary mystery writer John Dickson Carr.  This collection of early works of Carr includes Grand Guignol. "The New Canterbury Tales," and eight* other works of detection, mystery, and horror by the undisputed master of the locked room mystery.  Many of these stories have not appeared since their original publicarion and cover the range of mystery to horror.  Dan Napolitano, noted Carr collector and authority, introduces this collection and annotates each story, providing detailed information on the origin of Carr's works along with details on how each story would be used later in Carr's career."  The stories date from 1922 to 1929.  *The volume I have contains only nine stories; the tenth (referenced here) was included as a chapbook story accopanying the limited hardcover edition.
• John Creasey, writing as "J. J. Marric," Gideon and the Young Toughs and Other Stories.  Collection of 134 stories about George Gideon of Scotland Yard, first published in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, 1969-1974.  "One of Creasey['s] most beloved series included Chief Inspector George Gideon of Scotland Yard, written under the J.J. Marric pen name.  The Gideon series was also the most lauded.  Anthony Boucher called Gideon's Day Creasey's best work.  HFR Keating included Gideon's Week in his 100 Best Crime and Mystery Books.  Mystery Writers of America awarded Creasey the Edgar for Best Novel for Gideon's Fire.  Gideon's Day was dramatized into a film in the late 1950s, and the books became a television series in the early 1960s.  Beyond his twenty-one novels, Creasey (as Marric) wrote a series of short stories featuring the /Chief Inspector.  These appeared in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine nearly 50 years ago, and this marks the first time that all of these works have been compiled into a book."  Martin Edwards provides a lucid introduction to the tales, whiule Francis M. Nevins includes a short biographical piece about Creasey.  Creasey's son, Richard Creasey, offers a personal tribute in an afterward.
• Bill Crider, The Blacklin County Files, Eight Stories of Sherlock Holmes, Gabby Darbins and the Slide-Rock Bolter (as by "Colby Jackson"), The Girl Who Wanted to Be Sherlock Holmes, Songbird (as by "Colby Jackson"), A Werewolf Named Wayne. "Death's Brother," "I Am a Roving Gambler:  Two Stories of the West," and "What a Croc!"  Phew.  that's a whole bunch of Crider.  I took a look at my Kindle file on my computer this week and discovered I had over 1500 titles, many of which I did not realize (or had forgetten) I had!  I decided I'd better start reading some.  But first...why not order some more?  I mean, there were a bunch of Bill Crider books and stories I had not read.  George Kelley may be George the Tempter, but Bill Crider is Bill the Tempting.  (BTW, I did have two unread Criders already on the Kindle:  the Rancho Diablo novel Dead Man's Revenge and the gorilla/gasbag mashup "Among nthe Anthropophagai!")
• Carolyn Kepnres, You.  Suspense thriller, the basis for the Lifetime series.  "When a beautiful, aspiring writer strides into the East Village bookstore where Joe Goldberg works, he does what anyone would do:  he googles the name on her credit card.  There is only one Guinevere Beck in New York City.  she has a public Facebook account and tweets incessantly, telling Joe everything he needs to knopw:  she is simply Beck to her friends, she went to Brown University, she lives on Bank Street, and she'll be at a bar in Brooklyn tonight -- the perfect place for a "chance" meeting.  As Joe invisibly and obsessively takes control of beck's life, he begins quietly removing the obstacles that stand in their way.  Joe will do anything to ensure Beck finds herself in his waiting arms -- even if it means murder."  I'm not sure where this one came from:  it showed up in a package from Amazon addressed to me.  I never ordered it and there was no indication who did.  Whoever sent me the book, thank you!  It sounds very interesting.
• Sax Rohmer, The Voice of Kali:  The Early Paul Harley Mysteries.  Mystery collection thirteen short stories about Gideon Volume 3 in Black Dog Books' The Sax Rohmer Library, edited by Gene Christie.  "The Game's Afoot -- and Paul Harley's on the Case!  Meet Pauol Harley -- part Sherlock Holmes, part James Bond -- the man on whom the British gevernment depends to solve its most baffling mysteries.  Follow Harley as he reveals the awful secret behind the disappearance of a young girl and the bizarre disfigurement of a corpse,,,uncovers a sinister plot behind an assault on a gentleman's hat,,,locates the baffling hiding place of a Chinese crime lord...battles the bewitching Madame de Medici to unmask the deadly Black Mandarin...and struggles to find and destroy a scientific super-weapon before it can be deployed by an international organization."  The seven stories in this volume were originally published from 1920 to 1924.  Paul Harley was the main character in Rohmer's novels Bat Wing and Fire Tongue (both 1921). 
• F. Paul Wilson, The Compendium of Srem.  Kindle Bibliomystery.  A brief tale from Wilson's Secret History of the World, which includes his Adversary cycle, his Repairman Jack stories, and the ICE trilogy.  The most evil book ever conceived has fallen into the hands of the Spanish Inquisition.
• F. Paul Wilson, Scar-Lip Redux.  Graphic novel featuring Repairman Jack.  The last of the Rakosh, a shape-changing, flesh eating demon for the Otherness, still lives, even though Jack he had eliminated the entire race.  Jack now must end this evil once and for all.  The quest takes him to the Ozymandius Prather Oddity Emporium, the house of freaks which had been the Rakosh's last home, then to a multi-millionaire lottery winner who has weaponized the creature, and finally to the mysterious and haunted Pine Barrens, where Jack faces off with the preternatural beast wicho can only be destoryed by fire or iron.

Haggis:  By the time you read this, daughter Christina, granddaughter Erin, and Erin's boyfriend Trey will have landed in Scotland for a ten-day adventure.  I kept telling them they have to eat some haggis while there; they kept telling me if I insisted on that then I don't love them.  Perhaps instead of eating some, they'll be ableto capture a wild haggis -- a mythical bird-like creature with many legs; the haggis critter somewhat resembles a bagpipe, which is appropriate because the sound a bagpipe makes is supposedly just like the cry of the haggis.  Anyway, the link below takes you a site with a brief overview of the history of haggis and a recipe for making it!  (But, kids, don't try this at home!  Make sure there is an irresponsible adult present.)

https://www.196flavors.com/haggis/

Haggis II:  Here's an episode of the adult cartoon show Fugget About It titled "You Only 

Try Haggis Once,"  Needles to say, it's NSFW.  And there are some annoying commercials.  **sigh**

"Haggis is simply a novelty food.  People only try it once, usually under the influence of alcohol."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-FOiIdPGLc

Yo-Yo Ma:   George the Tempter recently sent me some CDs by Yo-Yo Ma -- the perfect background (or foregroud) music for just about everything.

Here's his "Appalanchian Waltz."  Enjoy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hInHB-J0lJQ

The Purple Heart:  241 years ago today, George WAshington announced the creation of the Badge of Militray Merit, considered America's first militasry decoration and the second oldest in the world after the Cross of St. George.  The award was only given to non-commissioned officers and privates and was the forerunner of the Purple Heart.

The badge was designed by Washington himself in the shape of a purple heart and was given for "not only instances of gallantry in batle, but also extraordinary fidelity and essential service in any way."  This was thought to be the first time modern history that a badge was given to ordinary soldiers, and the general practice in Europe was to honor high-ranking solders who had achieved vistory, rather than common soldiers.  Washjington insisted, however, that the "road to glory in a patriot army and a free country...is open to all."

Only three people received the Badge of Military Merit during the Revolutionary War and all were presented by Washington himself.:

•  Sergeant William Brown (1759-1808) of the 5th Copnnecticut Regiment of the Connecticut Line.  Records no longer exist, but it is believed that the award was for his actions in assaulting Redoubt No. 10 in the Battle of Yorktown.  He received the badge on May 3, 1783, the same day as
• Sergeant Elijah Churchill (1755-1841) of the 2nd Regiment Light Dragoons.  He was cited for gallantry in action at Fort St. George on Long Island in November 1780 and at Fort Slongo in Long Island on October 2, 1781.
• Sergeant Daniel Bissell (1754-1824) of the 2nd Connecticut Regiment of the Connecticut Line received his badge on June 10, 1783.  Bissell served as a spy, joining the British Army for 13 months and passing intelligence information along to the Continental Army.  Under direct orders from Washington, Bissell posed as a deserter and then served in the British Infantry Corps led by Benedict Arnold.  Bissell also inspired Washington in the design of the Badge of Military Merit:  when dancing with his future wife at a ball, Bissell accidently stepped on her purple dress and ripped a piece from it; he then took the piece, folded it in the shape of a heart, and told his wife to hold onto it.  Washington heard the story and the rest is history.  Bissell's gravestone is inscribed, "He had the confidence of Washington and served under him."

Several others may have received the Badge of Military Merit in the Revultionary War, but no records exist.   Some sources claim that the badge that supposed was awarde to William Borwn that is now on display at the American Independence Museum in Exeter, New Hampshire, is actually a badge awarded to a fourth, unknown, person, and that Brown's badge had been lost sometime in the 1920s.

The Badge of Military Merit fell into disuse after the rEvolutionary WAr although it was never officially abolished.  In 1932 (on the 200th anniversary of George Washington's birth, no less), the War Department authorized the new Purple Heart Medal for soldiers who had previously received a Wound Chevron or an Army Wound Ribbon.  The Purple Heart was designated the official "successor decoration" to the Badge of Military Merit. The first Purple Heart was awarded to General Douglas McArthur, who had instituted work on a new design the year previous.  The actual design was done by heraldic expert Elizabeth Will; the final medal was chosen from a plaster model designed by John R. Sinnock of the Philadelphia Mint.

Until September 22, 1943, the Purple Heart was awarded not only for wounds in action but for "meritorious performance of duty."  With the creation of the Legion of Merit, the practice of awarding the Purple Heart for meritorious performance was discontinued.

In 2009. National Geographic estimated the number of Purple Hearts given, since World War I, to be 1,915,837.

Today, of course, is Purple Heart Day.

Celebrate!:  In addition to Purple Heart Day, today also marks National Sea Serpent Day.  (Erin is determined to find the Loch Ness Monster this week, but it won't be today; besides Scotland doesn't count on an American "national" day, and Loch Ness is not in the sea.  Too bad, Erin.)  It is also both National Lighthouse Day and National Beach Party Day (Annette, we miss you!).  Worth celebrating is Assistance Dog Day -- the Monday of International Dog Assistance Week, because dogs are amazing and assistance dogs are amazing-er.  (If a dog in a yellow vest comes up to you alone, follow it.  It means that the dog's owner needs help.)  I fully support National Raspberries and Cream Day (yum!).  I firmly believe that whoever designated today as Particularly Preposterous Packaging Day has seen me try to wrap presents.  Today is Professional Speaker Day and -- in Australia -- Aged Care Employee Day.

For those suffering from excesssive heat, Air Conditioning Appreciation Days (July 3-August 15) is still going on.  This is also National Psychic Week, but I'm sure they knew that without being told.  And, Pennywise notwithstanding, it's International Clown Week.

Birthday Guys 'n' Gals:   Celebrating birthdays today are Roman emperor Constantius II (317-361), whose troubled reign consisted of wars, civil wars, court intrigues, usurpations, and deadly family infighting; Alonso de Ercilla (1533-1594), the Spanish soldier and poet whose poem La Araucana is one of the greatest epics of the Spanish Golden age; "Blood Countess" Elizabeth Bathory (1560-1640), who -- rightly or wrongly -- has gone into folklore for her supposed vampiric tendencies and was purported to have killed hundreds of girls and women over a 20-year period and to have bathed in their blood in order to retain her youth; Sir Robert Dudley (1574-1649), expl;orer, shipbuilder and cartographer, who created the first atlas of sea charts in the world, Dell'Arcano del Mare -- Dudley also found enough time to father some 17 acknowledged children; Georg Stiernhelm (1598-1671), Swedish mathematician and poet who first applied the verse meters of ancient poets to the Swedish language, making him the "father of Swedish poetry," and writing the first importnt Swedish book of poetry, Musae Suethizantes in 1668). 

Those born in the 18th and 19th centuries include Muhammad Shah (1702-1748), 13th Mughal emperor of India, whose reign was marked by the rapid and irreversible decline of the Mughal empire; James Bowdoin (1726-1790), the second governor of Massachusetts, who was the first president and founder of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and had work with Benjamin Franklin on experiments with electricty --  Bowdoin College in Maine is named in his honor; American Major-General Nathaniel Greene (1742-1786), who took command of the Southern theater of the Revolutionary war and was known as "The Savior of the South" and "The Fighting Quaker;" Carl Ritter (1779-1859), German geographer and considered one of the founders of modern geography; From geography to geology, we come to Auguste Michel-Levy (1844-1911), whose pioneering work in geology included the Michel-Levy interference colour chart, which define the interferencecolors from differetn orders of birefringence; Alan Leo (born William frederick Allen, 1860-1917), English astrologer and theosophist, who has been referred to as "the father of modern astrology -- I won't bother you with my opinion of what a fetid, steaming pile of bovine excretment astrology is;  Henri Le Sidaner (1872-1939), Frech painter, some of his work is here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_Le_Sidaner#/media/File:Sidaner_dimanche.jpg  and here  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_Le_Sidaner#/media/File:Henri_le_sidoner30.jpg  and here  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_Le_Sidaner#/media/File:Sidaner_pleintje_te_cherbourg_bij_avond_1934.jpg; Mary Frances Winston Newson (1869-1959), American mathematician, the first female to receive a PhD in mathematics from an European university, and the first to translate Hilbert's problems into English; Mata Hari (Maragretha Geertruida Zelle MacLeod, 1876-1917), I think we know who she was; actress Billie Burke (1884-1970), Glinda the Good Witch of the North, Cosmo Topper's wife, and many others, she was wooed by Enrico Caruso and married Florenz Zeigfield; 

Elizabeth Gurley Flynn (1890-1964), American labor leader, activist, Wobbly, and founding member of the ACLI, she was the inspiration of Joe Hill's 1915 song "The Rebel Girl."

Moving fcrward in time, we come to Broadway and film actress Ann Harding (1902-1981), nominated for an Oscar for her role in 1931's Holiday; paleoanthropologist and archaeologist Louis Leakey (1903-1972), whose work at Olduvai Gorge indicated that humans originated in Africa; Ralph Bunche (1904-1971), political scientist, diplomat, and an important voice in the Civil Rights movement, he won the 1950 Nobel Peace Prize the first African American and the person of African descent to be awarded a Noble Prize; boogie-woogie pianist and bandleader Freddie Slack (1910-1965), he played the pino solo on "Beat Me Daddy, Eight to the Bar" and recorded Capitol Records first gold single, "Cow Cow Boogie;" Film Director Nicholas (Rebel Without a Cause, They Live By Night, In a Lonely Place, Johnny Guitar) Ray (1911-1979; Kermit Love (1916-2008), American puppeteer and esigned, best known for his work with The Muppets and on Sesame Street, he built Oscar the Grouch and Big Bird, helped create Cookie Monster, and designed Mr. Snuffleupagus, surprisingly, Kermit the Frog was not named after him; Songwriter Felice Bryant (1925-2003), who co-write "Rocky Top," "Bye Bye Love," and "Wake Up Little Susie," among pthers; Funny man, ad man, radio personality, and siu generis genius extraordinaire Stan Freberg (1926-2015), who once did a Sunsweet pitted prune commericial with his friend Ray Bradbury; Edwin Edwards (1927-2021), four-tern governor of Louisiana, found guilty on 2001 of racketeering charges and sentence to ten years in prison, but released after eight years; Betsy Byers (1928-2002), chjildren's author, Summer of the Swans won the 1971 Newbery Medal and Wanted...Mud Blossom (1991) copped an Edgar; James Randi, "The Amazing Randi" (1928-2020), magician and scientific skeptic who rightly exposed paranormal and pseudoscientic claims and kept the fraudsters on their toes; Edward Hardwicke (1932-2011), English actor who played Dr. Watson for eight years opposite Jeremy Brett's Sherlock Holmes; Jerry Pournelle (1933-2017), best-selling science fiction author, early proponent of personal computers, espouser of right-of-center politics; Lee Croso (b. 1935), sports broadcaster and football analyst, and former college football head coach; Garrison Keillor (b. 1942), the Prairie Home Companion guy and best-selling author; B. J. Thomas (1942-2021), who sang "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head;" actor John Glover (b. 1944), Lionel Luther on television's Smallville; Alan Keyes (b. 1950), who ran for President in 1996, 2000, and 2008 -- he didn't make it; Jonathan Pollard (b. 1954), former U.S. intelligence analyst convicted of selling top-secret document to Isreal, sentenced to life in prison in 1987 and released in 2015;  WAyne knight (b. 1955), actor known for his role as Newman on Seinfeld, Don Orville on 3rd Rock from the Sun, and Dennis Nedry in Jurassic Paek; Bruce Dickinson (b. 1958) lead vocalist for Iron Maiden; David Duchovny (b. 1960), X-Files' Fox Mulder and Californication's Hank Moody; Peter Niven (b. 1964), retired British jump jockey who was the first Scotsman and sixth jockey to ride over 1000 winners, whenhe retired he was the only jockey to win five races in a day on four occasions; Jimmy Wales (b. 1966), co-founder of Wikipedia; Charlize Theron (b. 1975), South African actress, an Oscar winner for her role as Aileen Wournos in Monster; Abby Cornish (b. 1982), actress -- Bright Star, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, and television's Jack Ryan; and Francesca Eastwood (b. 1993), one of Clint's daughters.

Florida Man:  On hiatus.  Our anti-woke, anti-education, anti-personal choiuce, anti-science, anti-fact, pandering, "slavery was good for Blacks" gvernor is taking a lot of fun out of it.

Good News:

•  Molecule in breast milk could reduce cerebral palsy in infants       https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/molecule-in-breast-milk-could-reduce-cerebral-palsy-in-infants/
• Group rescues dozens of silvery gibbons to return to the wild in the island forests of Java      https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/with-only-2500-silvery-gibbons-left-group-rescues-dozens-to-return-to-island-forests-of-java/
• Man helps barbers to fill their shops with books to get kids excited about reading       https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/cnn-hero-man-helps-barbers-fill-their-shops-with-books-to-help-kids-find-excitement-in-reading/
• When boy asks strangers for yard work to save up for a new game console, they file a police complaint against him, so the cops but him a new PS5      https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/gamer-cop-turns-complaint-call-against-young-man-into-opportunity-to-playtogether-online-watch/
• Molecule that kills solid cancer cells while leaving other unaffected show promise after 20 years of work     https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/molecule-that-kills-most-solid-cancer-tumor-cells-leaving-others-unaffected-shows-promise-after-20-years-hard-work/
• She lost her fathers ashes but a stranger spends four hours digging through trash to find them      https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/she-lost-her-fathers-ashes-but-a-stranger-digs-4-hours-through-trash-to-find-them/
• Woman spends three days crawling through storm drains trying to rescue puppies     https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/houston-woman-spent-three-days-crawling-in-storm-drains-trying-to-rescue-puppies/

Today's Poem:

The Lighthouse Keeper

In the lonely twilight hour,

Looking forth from his old tower,

When the sunset glow has faded in the west,

Then he sees the distant things

Steeped in purple of the kings,

While the breezes come to chill at night's behest.

Then the color from the air

Sinks to -- God but knows just where,

And the interval of deepened twilight grows;

But the gleaming streaks of light

From his tower of the night

Send their word to every ship that comes and goes.

-- Helen Emma Maring