BITS & PIECES

Openers: You may wonder why I limp, effendi?  You are too considerate to ask, of course ,but I, whom Allah, in his infinite goodness and mercy, has already permitted two years beyond man's allotted three score and ten, have earned to read the thoughts of people by their expressions.  Serving as a dragoman sharpens the wits.

You will hear the story?  So be it.  Here is the coffee-shop of Silat where we can rest in comfort, and the tale will serve to while away the time.  this cushioned diwan is better than the sidewalk stools, and more quiet.

Ho, Silat!  Pipes and coffee for two.

You know me, effendi, as Hamed bin Ayyub, the Dragoman, for thus it is that I have been known for many a year -- subsisting on the baksheesh of worthy travelers like yourself, and showing them the sights of the Holy City.

None remember me as Hamed the Attar, for fully fifty years have passed since I was a druggist and perfumer with a prosperous shop of my own.

-- "The Man Who Limped" by Otis Adlebert Kline  (first published in Oriental Stories, October-November 1930; reprinted in Kline's collection The Man Who Limped and Other Stories [Saint Enterprises, 1946]; in The cComplete Oriental Stories, Volume 1 (Girasol Collectables, 2007); in Kline's The Dragoman's Revenge [Black Dog Books, 2007], and in Kline's Tles of the Dragoman [Pulpville, 2010], also reprinted as Dragoman Saga, 2011 [this time also crediting E. Hoffmann Price -- who co-authored one of the stories -- on the cover, but misspelling Hoffmann as "Hoffman"] ; in Pulp Tales Presents #28, October 2011; also available online at fadedpage.com)

There follows the tale of how Hamed the Attar had all the toes of his right foot severed, a tale of love and oriental intrigue.  This was the first of seven stoores related by Hamed the DRagoman to appear in Oriental Stories (retitled The Magic Carpet Magazine in January 1933) between October-November 1930 and January 1933.

("A dragoman is an interpreter, translator, and official guide between Turkish- Arabic- and Persian-speaking countries and polities of the Middle East and European embassies, consulates, vice-consulates, and trading posts.  A dragoman had to have a knowledge of Arabic, Persian, Turkish, and European languages." -- Wikipedia)

Kline (1891-1946), who spoke Arabic and was an amateur orientalist,  began his career as a songwriter (don't ask me to name any of his songs because I can't), and shifted to writing fantasy, detective, and adventure fiction with the ;publication of "The Thing of a Thousand Shapes," a two-part serial that began in the first issue of Weird Tales (March 1923), where Kline was working as an assistant editor.  Many of Kline's short stories appeared in Weird Tales, including a brief series about Dr. Dorp.  Kline is best known for series of novels copying Edgar Rice Burroughs' style, including his Venus Trilogy (The Planet of Peril, The Prince of Peril, The Port of Peril) and his Mars books (The Swordsman of Mars and The Outlaws of Mars), as well as the jungle adventures of Jan (Jan of the Jungle [a.p.a. Call of the Savage] and Jan in India).  

(For years, it was rumored that there was a bitter rivalry between Burroughs and Kline, and that when Burroughs objected to Kline basically transferring his Mars (Barsoom) to Venus; in reaction to Kline's books, Burroughs reportedly began his own series set on Venus.   In response, Kline then wrote his novels set on Mars.  Like many good rumors, there was no truth behind them.  Burroughs and Kline had never met or ever corresponded or showed any animosity to each other, yet the story was repeated by such people as science fiction historian Sam Moskowitz and Burroughs expert Richard Lupoff -- their sources were traced back to a 1936 article in a fanzine by Donald A. Wollheim.  when questioned about the source of his information, Wollheim said, "I made it up.")

Kline abandoned writing to become a literary agent; among his clients was Robert E. Howard, creator of Conan the Barbarian.

Of Kline's writing, John Clute has written, "Violently coloured, crudely racist and sniggeringly sexist, his tales represent with considerable energy the worst impulses of fiction at its worst, while being at points compulsive reading."  Compulsive enough for a popular fanzine:  OAK Leaves (16 issues, 1970-1981) dedicated to Kline and his writings, edited by David Anthony Kraft.

Incoming:  A lot of westerns and issues of EQMM this time around...

• Dan Abnett, The Silent Stars Go By.  Doctor Who novel, featuring the Eleventh Doctor.  "The winter festival is approaching for the hardy colony of Morphans, but no one is in the mood to celebrate.  They're trying to build a new life on a cold new world, but each year gets harder and harder.  Then three mysterious travelers arrive out of the midwinter night, one of them claiming to be a doctor.  Are they bringing the gift of salvation or doom?  And what else might be lurking out there, about to wake up?"  The Doctor, Amy, and Rory imagined as Melchior, Caspar, and Balthazar?
• Charles Bukowski, The People Look like Flowers at Last:  New Poems.  No description needed.  It's Bukowski.
• "Jackson Cole" (A. Leslie Scott), Outlawed.  A Jim Hatfield western.  "Texas Ranger Jim Hatfield faced the greatest challenge of his perilous career.  The Lone Star State was up for grabs -- bloodthirsty Apaches, Cherokees, and Creeks had been goaded onto the warpath by a trio of ruthless rebels whose diabolical dream of empire was almost fulfilled when they framed the tall, lean lawman for a brutal killing.  alone...discredited, Hatfield had to make a gunman's choice -- 'Swing for murder or cut down your enemies one by one!' "   Jim Hatfield was created by A. Leslie Scott for the first issue of Texas Rangers (October 1936) under the house name Jackson Cole.  the character appeared in all 210 issues of the magazine until it closed with the February 1958 issue.  Among the writers who assumed the Jackson Cole mantle for the magazine were Joseph L. Chadwick. Tom Curry, B. W. Gardner, Peter B. Germano, Clark Gray, C. William Harrison, J. Edward Leithead, Dudley Dean McGaughey, Samuel Mines, D. B. Newton, Roe Richmond, Oscar Schisgall, A. Leslie Scott,  Lin J. Searles, Walker A. Tompkins, and Lee E. Wells.  Of those, A. Leslie Scott wrote at least 51 of the Jim Hatfield stories through 1951, when Scott took the Hatfield character and the "Jackson Cole" pseudonym and began publishing original and rewritten Hatfield books, along with original stories; some 37 of Scott's Hatfield magazine stories were republished in book form, most rewritten and retitled so that it is difficult to match a magazine story to a published book.   when the magazine publishers objected, Scott merely changed the name of the Character and the byline to "Walt Slade," and kept on writing.
• Max Allan Collins & Terry Beatty, Ms. Tree:  Heroine Addiction.  Comic book collection, volume five of the Collected Ms. Tree.  Michael Tree (a woman) is a privste detective, the widow of Michael Tree (a detective) who was cut down by bullets.  She's beautiful, sexy, and tough, the Velda Sterling-type in a Mike Hammer-ish world.  This collects five story arcs, covering issues #18-27 and #29-31, 1985-1986.  It should be noted that this volume's title is spot-on, as it turns out.  Evidently, Ms. Tree is the longest-running private detective comic in the world.   Good, hard-boiled stuff.  another gift from George,
• Michael Connolly, editor (Otto Penzler, series editor), The Best American Mystery Stories 2003.  Year's best anthology of 20 stories from 2002.  Connolly chose the contents from a list of about fifty stories prepared by Penzler, with Penzler famously using a broad definition of "mystery."  Penzler, proprietor of The Mysterious Bookstore in New York City and founder of The Mysterious Press, is a well-known editor of mystery anthologies.  The Year's Best American Mystery Stories began in 1997 and featured a guest editor each year; the series ran through 2021; Step[hen Cha served as series editor from 2022 to the present as The Best American Mystery and Suspense.  Penzler, meanwhile, began editing the similar Best Mystery Stories of the Year.  Authors in this volume are Doug Allyn, Christopher chambers, Christopher Cook, John Peyton Cooke, James Crumley, O'Neil De Noux, Pete Dexter, Tyler Dilts, Mike Doogan, Brendan Dubois, Elmore Leonard, Robert McKee, Walter Mosley, Joyce Carol Oates, George P. Pelicanos, Scott Phillips, Daniel Stashower, Hannah Tinti, Scott Wolven, and Monica Wood.  One story from AHMM, one from Esquire, one from Glimmer Train, the rst from lesser-known magazines and from various original anthologies and books.
• Susan Cooper, The Boggart.  Children's fantasy.  "When Emily and Jess Volnik's family inherits a remote, crumbling Scottish castle, they also inherit the Boggart -- an invisible, mischievous spirit who's been playing tricks on residents of Castle Keep for genertions.  Then the Boggart is trapped in a rolltop desk and inadvertently shipped to the Volnik's home in Toronto, where nothing ill ever be the same -- for the Volniks or the Boggart.  In a world that doesn't believe in magic, the Boggart's pranks wreak havoc.  And even the newfound joys of peanut butter and pizza and fudge sauce eventually wear thin for the Boggart.  He wants to go home -- but his only hope lies in a risky and daring blend of modern technology and ancient magic."  An ALA Notable Book, a Horn Book Fanfare List Book, Winner of the Judy Lopez Memorial Award for Children's Literature, winner of Vermont Golden Dome Book Award, shortlisted for the Mythopoetic Fantasy Award for Children's Literature, and a nominee for the California Young Reader Medal for Middle School/Junior High.
• William R. Cox, Bigger Than Texas.  Western.  "Yesterday, Johnny Bracket had no place he could call home.  Today, he is in a new country, as unlike his Texas as any could be, with his own ranch, complete with a house, cattle, corral, and mortgage.  It is up to him to make it work.  One obstacle stands in Johnny's way -- the man called Morgan Field, who holds the power of money and guns, giving him rule over the town that bears his name and the whole surrounding county.  This is a man who would let the streets of his town run in blood, a man far more dangerous than any Johnny Bracket has ever known.  Field wants a range war.  Johnny aims to let him have it."  Cox was a prolific author in both the western and mystery fields, having published more than seventy-five novels and about a thousand short stories, as well as having written more than 150 television shows and several films.  In the western field, he may be best known for his Cemetery Jones novels, and the Buchanan series he wrote as "Jonas Ward."
• Philip R. Craig & William G. Tapply, First Light.  Mystery novel bringing together Craig's J. W. Jackson and Tapley's Brady Coyne.  "It's September on Martha;s vineyard, and J. W. Jackson is planning to fish in the annual striped bass and bluefish derby with his friend, Boston Lawyer Brady Coyne, who'll be on the island to help the elderly Sarah Fairchild to write her will.  J. W. has a little business, too, having reluctantly agreed to spend some of his valuable surf casting time trying to find a missing woman named Katherine Bannerman, who was last seen on the island a year ago.  For Brady and J. W. it will be law and detecting during the day , but by night they will roam the far Vineyard beaches in search of prizewinning catches.  But soon another woman goes missing, a local bully threatens both Brady and J., and Brady discovers that more than a few people desperately crave his client's estate.  With two hundred acres of pristine Vineyard land in a frail, elderly woman's control, the stakes are high.  For J. W., his case gets personal when someone slashes his wife's tires.  As J. W. prowls the Vineyard's villages in search of the slasher and the two missing women and Brody defends his clients interests against an array of warring factions, the two friends come to suspect that a killer is on the loose on the island.  What they do not know is that they themselves will soon be in danger.  People are not always what they seem, and there are snakes under the rocks, even in Eden."  This one includes recipes for Seafood St. Jacques, Steamed Pudding, and Thanksgiving Sea Duck.
• Dan Cushman, Tall Wyoming.  Western.  "He was a man to match the land he moved through, big and raw, untamed and restless.  and like the land, the more men tried to change him, the ore he stayed the same.  It was a dangerous way to live, but he liked it...well enough to die for it."  Cushman  was the author of more than three dozen books, many of them westerns, the best known being Stay Away, Joe, which was adapted as a Broadway musical in 1958 and the became a star vehicle for Elvis Presley in 1968.  He was also a prolific writer of adventure novels and stories, including Jewel of the Java Sea, Tongking!, and Port Orient, and the Armless O'Neill stories in Jungle Stories and Action Stories. 
• Tommy Donbavand, Shroud of Sorrow.  Another Doctor Who novel, also featuring the Eleventh Doctor, but this time with Clara as his companion.  "It is the day after John f. Kennedy's assassination and the faces of the dead are everywhere.  PC Reg Cranfield sees his late father in the mists along Totter's Lane,  Reporter Mae Callon  sees her grandmother in a coffee stain on her desk.  FBI Special Agent Warren Skeet finds his long dead partner staring back at him from raindrops on a window pane.  the faces begin to talk and scream and push through into our world as the alien Shroud begins to feast on the grief of a world in mourning.  Can the Doctor dig deep enough into his own sorrow to save mankind?"
• [Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine], I came across fifteen issues of EQMM at a thrift store, all from Eleanor Sullivan's years as editor:  October, November, December, mid-December 1990; January, February 1991; June, July, August, September/October, November 1996; August, November 2000; and April, November 2001.  Some pretty good reading here -- stories by Clark Howard, Ruth Rendell, Ed Gorman, Peter Lovesey, Marilyn Todd, Peter Robinson, Michael Gilbert, George C. Chesbro, Janwillem van de Wetering, Marcia Muller, Stanley Ellin George Baxt, Celia Fremlin, Anthony Burgess, Georges Simenon, Julian Symons, Isaac Asimov, Harlan Ellison, Robert Barnard, Lillian de la Tore, and others, and (of course) an Edward D. Hoch story in every issue.
• Robert Hichens, The Folly of Eustace and Other Satires and Stories.  Edited by S, T, joshi; a collection of nine stories from the prolific British writer (1864-1959.  Hitchens may be best known for his novels The Garden of Allah (thrice filmed, the third time in 1936, featuring Marlene Dietrich and Charles Boyer) and The Paradine Case (the basis of Alfred Hitchcock's 1948 film with Gregory Peck, Ann Todd, and Charles Laughton); he is also the author of one of the most popular and reprinted horror stories of all time, "How Love Came to Professor Guildea."  Hitchens wrote 53 novels and published 13 collections of short stories, as well as six nonfiction books (mostly about Egypt and the Middle East);  there have been 19 films based on his work.  this is one of two collections from Stark House edited by Joshi;  Stark House has also reprinted three of the Hichens story collections with new introductions by Joshi.  Stories in this volume are:  "The Folly of Eustace," "The Two Fears," "The Lift," "The Last Time," "The Facade," "The Letter," "A Boudoir Boy," "The Piano," and "The Worth While Man."  One of several sent me by George, for which I thank him.
• L. L. Foreman, Gunfire Men.  Collection of three novellas from Dell Publishing's Zane Grey's Western Magazine from 1951 and 1952:  "Last Stand Mesa," "Powdersmoke Empire," and "The Mustang Trail."  "Three tough men...Survivors of the days when the man who drew the fastest was the man who went on living.  A longrider, a gambler, and a gunmaster -- all bearing the stamp of trouble, carrying its sign on their faces.  With lawlessness their heritage, they lived by violence -- and by a peculiar code which demanded that they give the other man an even break."
• Brian Garfield, Wild Times.  Western novel, "The True and Authentic Life of Col. Hugh Cardiff," the basis of the 1980 TV miniseries starring Sam Elliott.  "An aged western showman reflects over his long and colorful career.  Few bother to separate the myth of Colonel Hugh Cardiff from his real life.  The nation knows him as a sharpshooter, buffalo hunter, moving pictures pioneer, and one-time proprietor of the greatest Wild West show the nation has ever seen.  Some of the stories are true, some exaggerated, and some rank among the wildest of tall tales.  But for a man who has lived like Colonel Cardiff, the facts trump the myth."  Also, Seven Brave Men.  Western.  "1861 -- the United States was preparing for Civil War.  as the army was pulled back from the southwestern frontier, the Apache under the feared and respected Cochise took to the warpath...and farmers abandoned their land and hurried to the nearest town, seeking protection.  Seven men left the village of Mesilla as guards for the Overland mail coach to Yuma.  They got as far as Cook's Canyon, when they met the main Apache raiding party, under the leadership of Cochise and Mangus Colorado.  Four days later, the seven were dead...but they had taken 185 killed and wounded Indians with them!"  Based on a true incident.  Garfield, the author of Death Wish, Hopscotch, and The Paladin, is always worth reading.
• Ken Grimwood, Replay.  Fantasy/horror novel.  "What if you could live your life over and over again?  What if you knew the course of history -- before it happens?  Like Kennedy's assassination...the World Series,,,the stock market?  Well, if you're anything like Jeff Winston, whose mid-life heart attack  plunged him into a 25-year time warp, you'd probably become the richest, most powerful man in the world.  Or maybe -- if you met another replayer, like the beautiful Pamela -- you'd learn the true meaning of timeless love.  Either way, the possibilities are endless."  Winner of the 1988 World Fantasy Award for Best Novel.
• Donald Hamilton, The Vanishers.  A Matt Helm novel, the 23rd in the series.  "When prominent people disappear without a trace, there's only one man to call.  Matt Helm...The disappearances are baffling.  the victim rate is mounting.  And the next likely target is Mac, the wily old spymaster and Matt Helm's boss.  Only Matt can stop the dirty work of the Vanishers.  Matt follows the trail of two women -- both treacherous and beautiful -- to chilly Scandinavia, ancestral home of the Helm clan.  Facing a coup from within the agency and a terrorist threat from without, Matt may well jpin his ancestors sooner than he had hoped."  Aren't you glad the books are not like the Dean Martin movies?
• "Matthew S. Hart"  (James Reasoner), Cody's Law, Volume 1:  Gunmetal Justice.  Initial volume in a western series.  "He rides alone for a breed that stands apart.  He wears the badge of the Texas Rangers and a pair of silver spurs.  He is the master of every weapon of the west -- white men's or Indian's -- and the servant of a fiercely held code of right and wrong.  His name is Cody.  The Rangers made Texas a land of law.  Men like Cody made the Rangers a legend.  In Twin Creeks outlaws sport the lawman's star.  No man, woman, or child in town is safe from the tyranny of Reb Turner and his gang -- and Comanche renegades are on a rampage against the outlying ranches,  But behind the marauders stands an even more ruthless power:  a land baron named Bigelow, damned by greed to want more than any man can ever have.  His aim is to terrorize the populace until everything of value lies in his iron grip.  But Ranger justice has finally caught up with Bigelow and his henchmen.  A showdown's coming, and no man is more eager than Cody.  Now he'll have to ride into hell at its hottest -- without revealing the mighty force for law and order that set him on Bigelow's crooked trail."
• Ernest Haycox, Deep West.  Western, first serialized in eight parts in Collier's, January2-February 20, 1937.  "Killing changes a man!  But sometimes there is no other way out.  Jim Benbow's face hardened as he looked at Clay Rand.  He remembered the good times.  He remembered how they used to ride the range together, how Clay looked sitting high and straight on that same horse.  But now there was a rope around Clay's neck.  His hands were tied behind his back.  Jim Benbow had a job to do.  Benbow sent a slashing blow across the horse's rump, heard the thock of the rope whipping tight, the snap of bone, a savage threshing and strangling.  Jim Benbow would never be the same man again.  He had just hanged his best friend."
• Seamus Healey, Beowolf.  The Nobel Prize-winning author's verse translation of the epic poem.  "Accomplish[es] what before now had seemed impossible, a faithful rendering that is simultaneously an original and gripping poem in its own right." -- New York Times Book Review
• Chuck Palahniak, Fight Club.  I'm late to the party for this one, but what happens at Fight Club stays on Jerry's bookshelf.
• Stanislaw Lem, Memoirs of a Space Traveler:  Further Reminences of Ijon Tichy.  Translated by Joel Stern & Maria Swiecicka-Ziemianek; collection of five stories by the great Polish satirist and science fiction writer.  Two of these stories appeared in the 1971 Polish edition of The Star Diaries, but not in the american or British editions.  "Tichy, the space traveler of future centuries, reveals that 'out there' isn't so very different from 'down here,' since people are, after all, people everywhere.  Thus, he is not amazed when he meets up with a galactic society presided over by the Plenum Moronicum, which appears to rule as a ruthless Machine; the inhabitants, docilely cooperating in their own destruction, go by the name of Phools.  When he is not voyaging in space, Tichy is a magnet for eccentric unrecognized inventors of splenetic genius, whose spooky experiments are revealed to him with megalomaniacal pride.  One has invented no less an object than the soul; another, on the island of Crete, has gone the full length of cybernetic evolution, with particularly gruesome results.  In one episode, washing machines go through astounding transformations and absorb the functions of an army of human beings, laying the foundations for a new civilization, one that is totally electrified."  another gift from George, who is kindness beyond measure.
• Alan LeMay, Cattle Kingdom.  Western.  Billy Wheeler "rides hard and shoots straight; but he also has brains.  His knowledge of modern ranching methods and of legal procedure stand him in good stead; and it is ultimately __ more than his fighting prowess -- his unravelling of some murders that have plagued the Red Hills country that saves her ranch empire for Marian Dunn.  Marian herself is more than a sweet cipher, under adversity she develops maturity.  The moral is also adult; the wild rugged individualism of the open range must go to make way for more scientific farming and marketing methods."  This is the 1948 Signet paperback, and the publishers go out of their way to ensure their readers that the westerns the publish are literature, and not just pulp fiction.  and the do it in the most awkward manner.  Among LeMay's westerns are The Searchers, The Unforgiven, Thunder in the Dust (filmed as The Sundowners), and Useless Cowboy (filmed as Along Came Jones).
• Elmore Leonard, Trail of the Apache and Other Stories.  Paperback collection of seven stories from The Complete Western Stories of Elmore Leonard.
• Yo Yo Ma, five CDs, including a two-disk set:-Beethoven-Schumann Piano Quartets (with Jaime Laredo, Isaac Stern, and Emanuel Ax), Hush (with Bobby McFerrin),Songs of Joy and Peace ( with "Friends," including Diana Krall, Dave Brubeck, James Taylor, Alison Kraus, and Renee Fleming), Shostakovich  Concerto No. 1 for Cello and Orchestra, Op. 107 (with the Philadelphia Orchestra; CD also includes Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic performing Shostakovich's Symphony No. 5, Op. 47 and Cello Concerto No. 1, Op. 107), The Cellos Suites Inspired by Bach (a   two-disc package 'from the six-part film series").  more goodies from George.  There are few people more infectious about their love of music than yo yo Ma.
• Wayne Overholster, Day of Judgment.  Western, also published as Colorado Incident.  "Kirby Grant was sent to Denver by a secret society on a mission vital to the future of the Union.  He knew he had to stay alert.  There were dangerous men who knew why Kirby was there and hated him for it.  Then he fell in love with a fiery, red-headed spy, and as Colorado's day of judgment approached, Kirby found sudden death closing in..."  Overholster, a prolific western writer, published at least ninety books and won three Spur awards.
• Bill Pronzini & Martin H. Greenberg, editors, Best of the West III.  Western anthology, the last of three that remixed the contents of the editors' hardcover anthologies The Reel West. The Second Reel West, and The Third Reel West, all containing stories that were made into films.  among the stories in this volume are Dorothy Johnson's "A Man Called Horse" and "The Hanging Tree" -- both worth the price of admission alone, as well as James Warner Bellah's "Massacre" (Fort Apache), and stories by Bret Harte, O. Henry, Steve Frazee, Jack Schaefer, Stewart Edward White, and John M. Cunningham.
• John Ringo, A Deeper Blue.  Technothriller, the fifth in his Paladin of Shadows series featuring Mike Harmon, The Kildar.  "VX is not a good way to die.  so when the President of the United States gets confirmed intelligence that a shipload of the stuff is headed for Florida. he orders that every step be pulled out.  including bringing in the ultimate weapon:  The Kildar.  Heartsick over the death of so many of his followers, former SEAL Mike Harmon, hero of Ghost, Kildar, Choosers of the Slain, and Into the Breach, decides to sit this one jut.  WMDs headed for the U.S. no longer matter to the newest n ancient line of mercenary leader.  But when his best friend and [sic] intel specialist both are seriously wounded in an ambush aimed at him, the Kildar gets his ganeface on.  The terrorists will learn to fear the Ghost all over again."  I'm not much of one for military SF or for techno-thrillers, but I might give this one a chance.
• "James Rollins' (Jim Czajkowski), two SIGMA Force thrillers.  The Judas Strain.  "Operatives of the shadowy covert organization SIGMA Force, Dr. Lisa cummings and Mark Kokkalis search for answers to the bizarre affliction aboard a cruise liner transformed into a makeshift hospital.  but a sudden and savage attack by terrorist hijackers turns the mercy ship into a floating bio-weapons lab.  Time is an enemy as a worldwide pandemic grows rapidly out of control.  as the seconds tick closer to doomsday, SIGMA's commander, Gray Pierce, must join forces with a beautiful assassin who tried to kill him -- following the trail of the most fabled explorer in history into the terrifying heart of an astonishing mystery buried deep in antiquity and in humanity's genetic code."  And, Tides of Fire.  "The titan Project -- an international research station off the coast of Australia -- discovers a thriving zone of life in an otherwise dead sea.  The area teems with a strange bioluminescent coral that defies science yet holds great promise for the future.  but the loss of a military sub marine in the area triggers a brutal attack and sets in motion a geological disaster that destabilizes an entire region.  Massive quakes, volcanic eruptions, and deadly tsunamis herald a greater cataclysm to come -- for something is stirring miles under the ocean, a threat hidden for millennia.  As seas turn toxic and coastlines burn, can Sigma [not all caps this time] Force stop what has been let loose -- especially as an old adversary returns, hunting them and thwarting their every move!  For any hope of success, Commander Gray Pierce must search for a key buried in the past, hidden deep in aboriginal mythology.  But what Sigma could uncover is even more frightening -- something that will shake the very foundations of humanity."
• Alan Ryan, editor, Perpetual Light.  1982 SF anthology of 23 original stories about religion.  I'm struck by how many of the authors are no longer with us, including Tanith Lee, R. A. Lafferty, Joel Rosenberg, Hilbert Schenck, Suzette Hayden Elgin, Charles L. Grant, Brian W. Aldiss, and editor Ryan himself.  In my mind's eye, they are about the same age as I am; but in my mind's eye. I'm still 36.  **sigh**  Other authors (still with us) include Robert Silverberg, Richard Bowker, Alan Dean Foster, Steve Rasnic Tem, E. Paul Wilson, "Nicholas Yemaakov" (Simon Hawke), Michael Kube-McDowell, Mel Gilden, Gregory Benford, Craig Shaw Gardner, and Damien Broderick.  Looks to be an interesting anthology.  This is another one by way of Tonawanda.
• "Jon Sharpe" (Jon Messman), Canyon O'Grady #1:  Dead Men's Trails.  The first in a western series that lasted for 25 books.  Other authors in the series included Chet Cunningham and Robert Randisi.  "Canyon O'Grady is a special operative of the U.S. government, appointed by the President himself.  But the only badge he wears is the Colt at his side and the Henry in his saddle holster as he rides the roughest trails in the West.  Now O'Grady's job is to solve the mystery of the slaying of the great american hero Merriwether Lewis and hunt a fortune in stolen Louisiana gold...as he finds that dead men tell no tales, the killers show no mercy, and the passionate women can be as dangerous as they are desirable..."
• Tom Shippey, editor, The Oxford Book of Science Fiction Stories.  collection of thirty science fiction stories from 1903 (H. G. Wells) to 1990 (David Brin), tracing the development of the fild over most of the 20th century.  A lot of classic stories by well-known authors but the odds are you have not read all of them.  There are some glaring exceptions, understandable because of space limitations:  Asimov, Heinlein, and Leiber are not represented, for example; the first wo are included in a  recommended reading appendix, but Leiber is not.  Still, this is a great introduction to the field. Another one from George, may his snow blower always crank over and may his camels never get thirsty.
• Olen Steinhauer, Liberation movements. Crime novel in the author's Eastern European series.  "The year is 1975, and one of the People's Militia homicide investigators is on a plane out of the capital, bound for Istanbul.  the plane is hijacked by Armenian terrorists, but before Turkish authorities can fulfill their demands, the plane explodes in midair.  Two investigators -- Gavra Noukas, a secret policeman, and Katja Drdova, a homicide investigator -- are assigned to the case.  Both believe that Brano Sev, their enigmatic superior and himself a career secret policeman, is keeping them in the dark both about the details of the case and all its players and about the true motives of the investigation, but they can't figure out why.  That is, until they learn that everything is connected to a seven-year-old murder, a seemingly insignificant murder that has had far-reaching consequences."
• Eleanor Sullivan, editor, Alfred Hitchcock:  Tales of Terror.  Instant remainder book of 58 stories from AHMM, from 1953 to 1976, all readable, some very, very good.  The tag line -- "58 short stories chosen by a master of suspense" -- is a base canard; Hitchcock had nothing to do with Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine except for licensing his name.  The tag line could refer to Sullivan but, if so, it should have read "by the master editor of suspense."    I quibble because it's late in the day and I'm hungry and cranky and I want my supper.  George, again, kindly sent this one.
• "Peter Tremayne" (Peter Berresford Ellis), Hemlock at Vespers.  Mystery collection of fifteen Sister Fidelma short stories.  "Sister Fidelma -- an Engnacht princess and sister to the king of Cashel, a religieuse of the Celtic Church and an advocate of the Brehorn court -- is one os the most interesting and compelling figures in contemporary mystery fiction.  in this collection of short mysteries, Tremayne fills in many of the background details of Fidelma and seventh-century Ireland not found in the novels, and weaves his always beguiling mix of history and mystery."  The stories were originally published from 1993 to 1999.  There are currently 34 novels and two collections in the series.  Ellis is a leading expert on Celtic history, and it shows.
• "John Wyndham",  (John Wyndham Parkes Lukas Benyon Harris), Technical slip:  Collected Stories.  Science fiction collection, a reprint of the 1954 collection Jizzle, along with a rare mystery novella, The Curse of the Burdens, published in 1927 (Aldine Mystery Novels No. 17) as by "John b. Harris", a story that a couple of Amazon reviewers called "tedious" and "oddly out of place."  Nonetheless, I bought the collection for the novella, which I have wanted to read for a very long time and expect I will enjoy it very much.  (Somebody at Wikipedia questions whether Wyndham actually wrote The Curse of the Burdens, but I have never seen anything that would support this theory.)
  
  

Looking Forward to 2015:  If our soon-to-be Muttonhead-in-Chief has his way, the United States of America will be expanding to include Canada, Greenland, the Panama Canal (whether he wants the rest of Panama is still in question), and, possibly, Mexico.  And is there a country in the world that is not upset with the people he is naming as ambassadors to them?  However, he is perfectly willing to give up Puerto Rico, presumably because residents there did not full appreciate the paper towels he tossed them.   Oh, we can look forward to some interesting times...  I may stay in bed for the next four years with the covers pulled over my head.

Rasputin Has Left the Building:  On this day 108 years ago, Grigori Rasputin was killed.  He was shot, stabbed. poisoned, bludgeoned, hung, defenestrated, drowned, drawn and quartered, and had a piano fall on him from a great height.  He is definitely dead.

Harry Orchard:  As a bounder, a cad, and an all around ne'er-do-well, Harry Orchard had few equals.  His real name was Albert Horsley, born in 1866 on Ontario.  One of eight children from a poor family, he left school after the third grade and helped to support his family by working as a farm hand until he was 20.  At age 22 he went to Saginaw to work as a logger, returning to Canada to marry in 1893.  He and his wife both worked as cheesemakers, at times at their own cheese factory until she became pregnant and was unable to work.  They lived beyond their means, Harry was in debt, and his credit was poor.  Harry then burned down their factory, collected the insurance money, settled his debts, and ran off to British Columbia with another woman.  This new relationship lasted about three months, and Harry headed to Spokane.

By 1897 Harry was driving a milk wagon in Idaho, saving enough money to buy a stake in a silver mine.  The following year, he had to sell his share of the mine and take on a business partner to settle some pressing debts; a year later he had to sell his business to settle additional debts. Among Harry's many failings was an addiction to gambling, and "there many other attractions, and money always soon got away.  I always bought plenty of good clothes and lived well."

And so it was that harry became a 'mucker' (a shoveler) for the Tiger-Poorman Mine near Burke, Idaho.

And in that capacity, he joined the radical Western federation of miners, eventually committed numerous crimes -- including murder -- for them.

But Harry was no one-trick pony.  He freely confessed to other crimes:  "he was a bigamist, having abandoned wives in Canada and Cripple Creek.  He had burned businesses for the insurance money in Cripple Creek and Canada.  Orchard had burglarized a  railroad depot, rifled a cash register, stole sheep, and had made plans to kidnap children to settle a debt.  He also sold fraudulent insurance policies."  He was also a ;paid informant for the Cripple Creek Mine Owners' Association.  But it was murder, and one in particular, that had made him famous.

Frank Steunenberg (b. 1861) was the fourth governor of Idaho 1897-1901).  He had been an apprentice printer and publisher, has worked for the Des Moines Register, and for six years, published the Caldwell Tribune in Caldwell, Idaho Territory, with his brother.  In 1889, he was a member of the Idaho Constitutional Convention, which led to Idaho's admission to statehood the following year.  also in 1890, Steunenberg was elected to the Idaho House of Representatives as a fusion candidate -- supported by both the Democratic and the Populist parties, serving one term.  He was chairman of the Caldwell town council for several years.  With strong Labor union support, he was nominated for governor in 1896 by both the Democratic and the Populist parties, winning easily and becoming the first non-Republican to hold that office, as well as being the youngest in that state's history.  He was re-elected to a second two-year term in 1898.  It was a period of high labor unrest, especially in the state's mining industry.  In a preemptive strike, and knowing the Steunenberg would not support them in s trike, mine owners increased wages for their workers.

Coeur d'Alene had, over the years, been a powderkeg of unrest and violence over labor disputes.  In 1892, labor union miners discovered that they had been infiltrated by a Pinkerton agent,  Charlie Siringo (who later became a noted lawman, once infiltrating Butch Cassidy's Wild bunch for four years, and later working with Tom Horn), who was feeding union information to the mine owners.  (Working undercover as "Charles Leon Allison", Siringo was able to get elected as recording secretary for the union, allowing him acces to all the union's books and record.)  Vilence erupted at both the Frisco and the Gem mines.  One strikebreaker was killed at Frisco when the mill building was blown up.  At Gem, three union men, one guard, and one strikebreaker were killed by gunfire; before the night was over, another strikebreaker was killed.  The union forces the move to the Bunker Hill mine; when the dust settled, at least seventeen non-union workers had been wounded.  The governor at that time, Norman Bushnell Willey, declared marshal law.  Fearful over what had happened in Coeur d'Alene, the miner owners formed a Miner Owners Association the following year.

Tensions between the union and the mine owners continued for a number of years, eventually flaring out with the 1899 when WFM members again struck at the Bunker Hill mine.  bunker hill refused to hire union workers and paid their labor wages well below union rates.  During this kerfuffle, the Bunker Hill mill was burned down.  In response, Steunenberg declared martial law.  Because the Idaho National Guard was deployed in the Philippines (the Spanish-American War, you now), Stuenenberg was forced to ask President McKinley for federal troops, who stayed on until Stuenenberg's term ended. The union considered this a rank betrayal of their cause.  Five years after Steunenberg left office, union leaders reportedly decided to strike back by assassinating the former governor.  (Why they waited so long is beyond me.)

Enter Harry Orchard (remember him?).  Orchard, using the alias "Tom Hogan," planted a bomb of the gate outside Steunenberg's Caldwell home, triggered to explode when the gate was opened, which it did, exactly 119 years ago to the day.  He said that he had been ordered to kill Steunenberg by three of the WFM leaders -- William Dudley Haywood, Charles Moyer, and George Pettibone.  Orchard was miffed at the WFM leadership because they had ordered a train blown derailed during the Cripple Creek miner's strike but had not hired him to do it.  Also, Orchard confessed to seventeen or more additional murders.

The first of the four to go on trial was Haywood, who had Clarence Darrow, as his defense attorney.  Orchard was one of the main witnesses against Haywood.  While the trial was going on, then-Governor 

Frank Gooding granted permission to McClure's to print Orchard's lengthy confession, which was printed beginning with the July 1907 issue, and continued through November of that year under the title "Confession and Autobiography of Harry Orchard."  Orchard was the target of blistering questioning from the defense, attacking his motivation and the fact that he had several times in the past had vowed to kill Steunenberg. as well as proof of insanity in Orchard's family.  But Orchard withstood the storm handily and, for one, the presiding judge in both the Haywood and the Pettibone trials, firmly believed Orchard's testimony.  But Darrow's elegant defense and some blunders on the part of the prosecution -- as well as Orchard's newly found and vocal religious conversion -- resulted in a not guilty verdict for Haywood, and  Pettibone also was found not guilty.  The prosecution didn't even bother to try Moyer.

Orchard himself was then placed on trial, pleaded guilty, and was sentenced to death, which was later amended to life in prison.  He died in the state penitentiary in Boise on April 13, 1954, at age 88, having served more than 46 years at the Old Idaho State Penitentiary, the longest term ever.  As a trustee, he spend most of his later years outside the prison walls in a small house, tending the prison's poultry flocks.

As for Stuenenberg, he had been married and had five children.  A memorial dedicated to him and facing the front steps of the Idaho State Capitol states, "Rugged in body, resolute in mind, massive in the strength of his convictions, he was of the granite hewn."

Bacon Day:  Beside the being the fifth day of Christmas as we count down to Epiphany, today is also National Bacon Day!  This great day of unity was founded in 1997 by Danya "D" Goodman and Meff "Human Cannonball" Leonard, two friends who had their priorities straight.

Here's some bacon facts:

https://housely.com/bacon-facts/

It has been suggested that one of the way to celebrate National Bacon Day is to write a bacon song.  But, guess what?  You don't have to, because it's already been done!:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rA43tLYTsio

Speaking of Songs:  Today is the birthday of Bo Diddley (Ellas Otha Bates, 1928-2008):

"Who Do You Love?"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fer0y-cmObI

...and the birthday of Skeeter Davis (b. Mary Francis Pennick, 1931-2002):

"The End of the World"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sonLd-32ns4

...and the birthday of Del Shannon (Charles Weedon Westover, 1934-1990):

"Runaway"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0S13mP_pfEc

...and John Hartford (1937-2001):

"Gentle on My Mind":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbZHIoaapmE

...and Paul Stookey (b, 1937):

"Weddiog Song (There Is Love)":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrTfNTzAvYY

...and Michael Nesmith (1942-2021):

"Different Drum":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jA5scf8RpCI

...and Nesmith's Monkees cohort Davy jpones"

"Daydream Believer":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvqeSJlgaNk

...and Mountain's Felix Pappalardi  (1939-1983):

"Nantucket Slayride":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0JrV86EKCs

...and Patti Smith (b. 1946):

"Because the Night':

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_BcivBprM0

...and Jeff Lynne (b. 1947):

"Evil Woman":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxz1DuVaRr8

...and Suzy Bogguss (b. 1956):

"All the Pretty Little Horses":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QK49YM05zhQ

Ha-Ha:  Seymour led a good and pious life and when he died, he found himself at the Pearly Gates, to be greeted by God himself.  "I'm glad you're here," God said.  "Are you hungry?"  Seymour said he could do with some food so God opened a can of tuna and the two shred a simple meal.  While they were eating, Seymour happened to look down and could see directly into Hell, where they were feasting on a large roast beef, baked potatoes, asparagus, cakes, and vodka.  They next day God appeared again and asked Seymour if he was hungry.  The answer being in the affirmative, God pulled out another can of tuna and the two shared another humble meal.  Again, Seymour looked down below into Hell and saw that they were feasting on pheasant, rack of lamb, caviar, brandy, and rich chocolates.  One the third day God asked Seymour once again if he were hungry, and as God was pulling out yet another can of tuna, Seymour spoke up.  "Pardon me, God," he said, "but I've noticed that the damned are eating like kings down there, while we are sharing a can of tuna.  What gives?"  God looked at Seymour and said, "Well, for just two people, does it pay to cook?"

A New Year's Nap:  Curious George is looking forward to ringing in the New Year:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKFCf14Z98o

Florida Man:

• On the distaff side, Florida Woman Brianna Alvelo, a 22-year-old pizza delivery driver, was arrested in Kissimmee, for breaking into a motel room and stabbing someone over a tip she had received while delivering pizza.  The victim was taken to a local hospital in stable condition.  According to police, Alveda had returned to the motel with a man who was armed with a gun; the pair forced their way into the room, and Alvelo began stabbing the victim, a pregnant woman, with a knife fourteen times.  Avelo was arrested on charges of home invasion with a firearm, attempted murder, kidnapping, and aggravated assault.  She is being held without bail.  It was later reported that Alvelo 's charges were being upgraded to murder, but no further details were immediately forthcoming.  Her accomplice has not been identified, nor was the type of pizza she delivered -- because if it was with anchovies, then a small tip was warranted because that stuff is just nasty.
• Half-naked Florida Man Austin, 23, of Winter Haven, was arrested after he broke into a home by kicking in the door, and was found in the living room, holding the owner's carpet cleaner in his hands.  Smith was reportedly wearing only a shirt and shoes.  He fled when confronted with the owner, leaving the carpet cleaner behind.  When arrested, Smith said he did not remember the break-in because he was high on meth.  His fascination with the carpet cleaner remains unexplained.
• Recent drone sightings may have people in New Jersey and other states concerned, but at least they have not sent a seven-year-old boy to the hospital for emergency heart surgery.  Red- and green-lit drones collided and crashed into an Orlando crowd at a holiday drone show at Lake Eola Park in Orlando.  The boy was knocked out on impact when the drone crashed into his chest; he underwent open-heart surgery the following day.  On Tuesday, the boy's mother said that the boy was in stable condition.  The boy, named Alexander, is "still being monitored but he hasn't given up and is so determined to walk again."  The family spent Christmas day in the ICU.  The City pf Orlando cancelled a second scheduled drone show and the FAA is leading the investigation with the vendor to determine what happened.  Meanwhile, Universal Studios Orlando has cancelled the drone component of their nightly show.
• Florida Man Anthony Mata, age unknown, proved to be not very very bright when seeking a connection.  Mata went to Craigslist with the message, "New to the area, looking for ice or crack."  Mata did not realize that this might draw the attention of law officials.  Deputies responded to the ad and one posed as a seller, meeting Mata -- who negotiated to by a "eight-ball" of crack for $80.  [Aside:  As one who is completely out of the loop for that sort of thing, was the a good price?  On second thought, don't tell me.]  Mata was arrested for unlawful possession of a methamphetamine, and unlawful use of a two-way communication device.  Also arrested as an accomplice was his companion, Stephen Hornsby, who was probably as dumb as Mata just for being there.
•  Going back a full year, there's the story of an armed Florida Man -- Baruch Roche II, 33, of Tampa -- who identified himself as "Captain America" and attempted to enter McDill Air Force Base for a "top secret" meeting with a "General of the U.S. Special Operations Command to provide top secret information."  A search of Roche's car led to the discovery of an AR-15 rifel and five magazines loaded with 125 rounds of ammo.  Somehow, Roche never made his meeting.
• For people who are fans of the antics of various Florida Men and Women, this is the state that just keeps giving.  But what Florida does not give is certain personalized license plates.  Among those requests rejects for 2024 are:    HWK TUA, WTF FLA, IAM DUI, POOR AF, ONLY FN, D3Z NTZ, PLZ OFCR, P1SSAH (request probably from a transplanted Bostonian),  SMOLL PP, PIMPING, BIGHO, LV M1LFS, FARTZ, and many that even I don't dare to mention on this post.  A personalized license plate in Florida costs only an extra $15, but you have to get it approved.

Good News:

• A catch of a lifetime.       https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/fisherman-hooks-woman-caught-in-a-riptide-for-once-in-a-lifetime-rescue/ 
• A kindly trade.       https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/8-year-old-boy-saves-kitten-by-trading-his-skateboard-to-kids-who-were-harming-the-animal/
• 2000 acres of bamboo forest turns poverty into properity.      https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/india-law-allows-villagers-to-claim-2000-acres-of-bamboo-forest-to-turn-poverty-into-prosperity/
• Now he can go on the roller coaster.      https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/man-who-was-too-big-to-go-on-a-rollercoaster-loses-135lbs-in-11-months/
• CNN's Hero of the Year.        https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/2024-cnn-hero-of-the-year-founded-a-dog-foster-program-for-owners-who-go-into-rehab/
• He beat the odds and walked his mom down the aisle.       https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/little-boy-beats-odds-to-walk-mom-down-aisle-thanks-to-special-harness-watch/
• Helping broken bones heal sooner.       https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/these-tiny-implantable-sensors-helped-broken-bones-heal-in-weeks-rather-than-months/

Today's Poem:

The Year

What can said in New Year rhymes,

That's not been said a thousand times?

The new years come, the old years go,

We know we dream, we dream we know.

We rise up laughing with the light,

We lie down weeping with the night.

We hug the world until it stings,

We curse it then and sigh for wings.

We live, we love, we woo, we wed,

We wreathe our brides, we sheet our dead.

We laugh, we weep, we hope, we fear,

And that's the burden of the year.

-- Ella Wheeler Wilcox

May your burdens be light in 2025, and may joy and gratitude overwhelm you.