INCOMING

Some nifty books followed me home this week.  Can I keep them?

• Hugh B. Cave, The Dagger of Tsiang and Other Tales od Adventure (Collection of eleven pulp stories about a British outpost in Borneo) and Escapades of The Eel (collection of fifteen stories about an adventurer/crook originally published in the pulps as by "Justin Case").
• Allan Drury, A Shade of Difference.  Political novel.
• Alan Dean Foster, Interlopers (SF novel) and Star Wars:  The Approaching Storm (media tie-in).
• Harry Harrison, The Stainless Steel Rat Gets Drafted.  SF novel.  An adventure of Slippery Jin diGriz.
• Brian Hodge, Hellboy:  On Earth As It Is in Hell.  Comic book tie-in.
• David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas.  Sf novel -- oops, I mean lit'ry SF novel.
• John Ringo & Julie Cochrane, Sister Time.  SF novel.  Ninth in the "Legacy of Aldenata" series.
• Clifford D. Simak, The Fellowship of the Talisman.  Fantasy novel.
• Dan Simmons, Hardcase.  Mystery.  The first Joe Kurtz novel.

     I should mention that the two Hugh B. Cave books were bought on sale from Black Dog Books, one of the very great small publishing houses.  Check them out.

THE NAME GAME

From Bill Bryson's fascinating book The Mother Tongue: 

     "Many British apellations are of truly heroic proportions, like that of the World War I admiral named Sir Reginald Aylmer Ranfulry Plunkett-Ernel-Erle-Drax."  [Any relation to the fantasy writer Edward John moeton Drax Plunkett, Lord Dunsany, I wonder?  I digress.  Back to Mr. Bryson.]  "The best ones go in for a kind of gloriously silly redundancy toward the end, as with Sir Humphrey Dodington Benedict Sherston Sherston-Baker and the truly unbeatable Leone Sextus Denys Oswolf Fraduati Tollemache-de Orellana-Plantagenet-Tollemache-Tollemache, a British army major who died in World War I.  The leading explorer in Britain today is Sir Ranulph Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes.  Somewhere in Britain to this day there is an old family rejoicing in the name MacGillesheatheanaich.  In the realms of nomenclature clearly we are dealing here with giants.

     "Often, presumably for reasons of private amusement, the British pronounce their names in ways that bear almost no resemblance to their spelling.  Leveson-Gower is 'looson gore,' Marjoribanks is 'marchbanks,' Hiscox is 'hizzko,' Howick is 'hoyk,' Ruthven is 'rivven,' Zuill is 'yull,' Menzies is 'mingiss.'"

     The British, of course, do have sole ownership of this type of thing.  My wife's family name is Keane, pronouced "Cain;" the Australian branch of her family pronounce it "Kine," strangers tend to take the easy wat oout, pronouncing it "Keen."  In my hometown, living next door to each other were close members (either siblings or first cousins -- I'm not sure which) of a family named Girauldi; one household pronounced the name with a hard "G," while next door it was pronounced with a soft "G."  In every state in the country you can find towns and cities that are not pronounced the way they are spelled -- I live about a hundred miles from "Balmerr, Murrlin," for example.

     To me, all this means that the members of the pesky human race remain independent and ornery, ever putting their own individual stamp on things.  There's a kind of beauty in that, and something to be thankful for. 

THE TIMES THEY ARE A-CHANGIN'

Locus Online is now listing e-Books -- five titles from January to April and eight titles for May, some of them pretty interesting.  They appear to be just dipping their toes into the water now.  Expect a deluge soon.

FIFTY YEARS AGO

Here's a look at some prize winning mysteries awarded in 1961, a half a century ago:

     The winner of the Edgar award for Best Novel was The Progress of a Crime by Julian Symons.  Runners-up were The Traces of Brillhart by Herbert Brean, The Devil's Own by "Peter Curtis" (Norah Lofts), and Watcher in the Shadows by Geoffrey Household.

     Taking the Edgar for Best First Novel by an American Writer was The Man in the Cage by John Holbrook Vance (yes, Jack Vance -- this was his first mystery under his real name).  Runners-up were The Mercenaries by Donald E. Westlake, Case Pending by "Dell Shannon" (Elizabeth Linington), The Killing at Big Tree by David McCarthy, and The Marriage Cage by William Johnston.

     Fifty years ago there was no Best Paperback Original Edgar award; that catagory began in 1970.

     There was an Edgar award for Best Short Story.  That went to "Tiger" by John Dunham.  There were three runners-up:  "A Real Live Murderer" by Donald Honig, "Summer Evil" by Nora Kaplan, and "A View from the Terrace" by Mike Marmer.  Two of the stories  (Honig and Marmer) came from ALFRED HITCHCOCK MYSTERY MAGAZINE; the other two came from COSMOPOLITAN.

     Continuing with fiction, the Edgar for Best Juvenile belonged to The Mystery of the Haunted Pool by Phyllis A. Whitney.  This was the first year that the juvenile catagory existed; the Young Adult catagory did not begin until 1989.  There were no runners-up in 1961.

     James Sandoe of the NEW YORK HERALD TRIBUNE was honored with an Edgar for Best Mystery Criticism.  This was an occasional award given only 14 times beteen 1946 and 1967.  Special Edgars were given to Philip Wittenburg (legal counsel), cartoonist Charles Addams, and Elizabeth Daly (grande dame of women mystery writers).  Three Raven awards were given:  To Ilka Chase (Reader of the Year), to Scribners (Hardcover Book Jacket for A Mark of Displeasure by Elizabeth Hely), and to Dell (Paperback Book Jacket for The Three Coffins by John Dickson Carr).

   The Best Motion Picture (of course) was Psycho, witten by Joseph Stefano, with a Scroll going to Robert Bloch as the book author.

    Also, an Edgar was given to the Best Episode in a TV Series:  "The Case of the Burning Court" by Kelley Roos (Dow Hour of Great Mysteries).  Runner-up was "The Day of the Bullet" by Bill Ballinger (Alfred Hitchock Presents).

     Across the Atlantic, the British Crime Writers Association gave their Gold Dagger to The Spoilt Kill by Mary Kelly.  Runners-up were Call for the Dead by John le Carre and One Away by Allan Prior.  The CWA also gave a Special Merit Award to Berkley Mather "for the outstanding quality of his television crime plays."

     (To my knowledge, those were the only English-speaking mystery awards given out fifty years ago.  The information came from my very battered copy of The Armchair Detective Book of Lists edited by Kate Stine.)

     How many books and authors do you recognize?  How many have you read?  Do any unfamilar titles/authgors pique your interest?

FORGOTTEN BOOK: THE ADVENTURES OF GREMLIN

The Adventures of Gremlin by DuPre Jones (1966)

My pick for this week's Friday's Forgotten Books is a quirky little fairy tale, The Adventures of Gremlin by DuPre Jones.

     Gremlin is a little girl who lives with her brother Zeppelin and their father in a forest in the kingdon of Etaoin.  Their mother (named Little John) had dumped the family to become a seamstrees for a philanthropist named Robin Hood.  Tired of living only on kumquats and rutabagas, the pair decide to leave home.  In a short time they encounter a Latin-speaking wombat and then a Latin speaking kakapo, who warns them to avoid the Enchanted Forest where people enter and come out as a toad or a snake.  The two immediately decide to go to the Enchanted Forest.  Among those they meet on their adventures  are a witch (they eat her house), a bear (who eats Zeppelin -- don't fear, Zeppelin dies several times in the books, a la South Park's Kenny), a metaphysical poet who writes only limericks, a giant, a knight, and many other stock fairy tale figures -- each with a unique and sly twist on their tropes.

     Some pirates and beatniks and a white whale later, Gremlin and Zeppelin arrive at the palace, where they stop a revolt.  Somehow, Gremlin is the country's long-lost princess, so she and Zeppelin ensconce themselves in the palace, where Zeppelin starts on the road to depravity.  While the king is demanding that Gremlin marry, Zeppelin plots to take over the kingdom and Gremlin looks to Etaoin's neighboring and rival kindom Shrdlu for help.

     All this in 112 pages.

     Here the king must punish his head manservant for calling Gremlin "rabble":

               "Then I have no recourse but to have your head cut off."  The king turned to Gremlin.
          "I hope you consider that sufficient punishment."
               'Oh, yes," Gremlin said.  "That's capital."

     As an extra bonus, not only are the illustrations by Edward Gorey (Zeppelin's shirt changes slightly in each marvelous illustration), but he also did the book design.

     This one's a winner.



  

BILL CRIDER CAN LEARN FROM THIS GUY!

Police:  Man, 66, Shoots Skateboarder (Southern Calvert Gazette, May 2011)

     One Southern Maryland homeowner has found a solution for pesky kids on his lawn.

     According to the article, Charles Joseph Armiger, 66, of Solomons, Maryland, was charged with first-degree felony assault and second-degree assault, after he pepper sprayed a skateboarder who "called him a profane name."  The victim was one of 7 or 8 juvenile skateboarders who were using profanities and b anging on the doors of several residents in the area.  After the one juvenile was pepper sprayed, the rermaining group fled while Armiger went into his house and got his shotgun.  Armiger told police that he fired the shotgun intending to scare the juveniles but hit one of them.  The juvenile (it was unclear if he was the same person pepper sprayed) was struck just above the right knee.

     Does this mean Texas no longer leads the way?

JOKES FROM STEVE GILLETTE AND CINDY MANGSEN

I couldn't post this in the preceding post, but Steve Gillette and Cindy Mangsen have posted an armload of their favorite jokes on their homepage.  Chuckle away:

http://www.compassrosemusic.com/jokes.html