2023 TBR Pile Wrap-Up

 

Well, this is it. The last fling for Adam's The TBR Pile Challenge over at Roof Beam Reader. It was one of the first challenges I did when I started blogging and I had to do it every time Adam offered it. Well, Adam is hanging up his challenge host hat and has begun a new blogging adventure at the Contemplative Reading Project. 

So--how did I do on this last round? As always, I aimed to do all twelve of my original list as well as the two alternates. I almost made it--ending the year with thirteen read. I tried to read the Cohen book, but it just wasn't quite what I thought I was getting myself into and I decided that life was too short to finish it since I didn't absolutely have to have it to complete the challenge.

For an end of year wrap-up, Adam has asked us which book/s we loved and which book/s we hated from the list. Most of these earned a nice, middle-of-the-road three stars. Enjoyable books, but nothing extraordinary. The best of the bunch were Over Sea, Under Stone by Cooper and I, Robot: The Illustrated Screenplay by Ellison & Asimov. Cooper's book was delightful and I'm sorry I didn't discover her when I was young--I would have loved those books even more then. And Ellison & Asimov together are dynamite--explosive ideas and story line with terrific illustrations. When revisiting science fiction authors I loved as a teenager, I'm sometimes disappointed--but Ellison and Asimov never disappoint. 

 

Speaking of disappointments...Robert Silverberg was a favorite when I went through my big SF phase. But reading books by him that I added to the TBR stacks and never got round to until middle age has not gone so well. Last lines of the review for Tom O'Bedlam: I'm sorry, but I'm just not feeling this one. It took too long to get to the Crossing and then when we got there....it just fell flat and it seemed like there should have been something more. Very anticlimactic. Not the best Silverberg I've read (but then...I'm wondering what I would think now of some of the work I enjoyed so much back in the 80s). The other that made the least favorite list is Runcie's Sidney Chambers & the Perils of the Night. Verdict (from review): I wasn't all that excited about his debut when I read it two years ago, but I wanted to give him another chance. The most endearing thing about the man is he brings up Lord Peter Wimsey in the cricket match story. But, overall, my view of these stories still stands--the characters just don't grab me and I don't buy Chambers as an amateur detective.

My List:

1. It Walks By Night by John Dickson Carr (2/24/23)

2. Sidney Chambers & the Perils of the Night by James Runcie (3/11/23)

3. Tom O'Bedlam by Robert Silverberg (5/16/23)

4. Pride of the Peacock by Victoria Holt (4/23/23)

5. The Distant Hours by Kate Morton (6/29/23)

6. Over Sea, Under Stone by Susan Cooper (1/23/23)

7. The Covenant of the Crown by Howard Weinstein (9/12/23)

8. Fatal Inquiry by Will Thomas (4/9/23)

9. I, Robot: The Illustrated Screenplay by Harlan Ellison & Isaac Asimov (7/5/23)

10. Garden of Deadly Delights by Cynthia Manson, ed. (2/7/23)

11. The War Come Home by Deborah Cohen

12. Beyond by Theodore Sturgeon (3/26/23)

Alternates:

1. The Genesis Secret by Tom Knox (3/29/23)

2. Danger at the Drawbridge by Mildred A. Wirt (4/10/23)

The Covenant of the Crown

 The Covenant of the Crown (1981) by Howard Weinstein

Eighteen years ago, a young Lieutenant James T. Kirk helped King Stevvin and the royal family of Shad escape safely into exile when a dangerous rebellion broke out on the planet. Taking the powerful Crown of Shad with him, the King has waited a long time for the right time to return and unite his people. The time is now--but the area of space where Shad is located is disputed space and the Klingons would love to get hold of the crown and bring Shad under their power. 

The Enterprise is assigned to transport the King and his entourage back to Shad because Stevvin will accept no one but Kirk. However, when the starship arrives they find the King near death and an inexperienced Princess Kailyn in line for the throne. If she is to take her place as Shad's next Queen, they will need to retrieve the crown from its hiding place on another planet and she will need to prove herself worthy to wear it. According to Shaddan legend, only those with the control to clear the crystals of the crown to a brilliant blue are the true leaders of Shad. With a Klingon warship dogging their path, Kirk sends Spock and Dr. McCoy with Kailyn by shuttlecraft to find the crown while the Enterprise acts as decoy. But there is a spy in the King's retinue and the Klingons know more about the plan than is good for the mission. Can Spock and McCoy keep Kailyn safe on a planet with dangerous weather patterns, primitive hunters, and a Klingon espionage team on their heels? And, if they survive and find the crown will does Kailyn have the power to control the crown?

Meanwhile, Starfleet wasn't aware of the need for the the crown's retrieval and they're none too pleased to have found out only by monitoring Klingon communications. They insist that Kirk discover who the spy is among Stevvin's staff before he returns to Sigma 1212 for the shuttlecraft team. The longer it takes to find the traitor the longer Kailyn will be in danger...

I absolutely did not plan this--but I pretty much read this for the Star Trek Anniversary. Fifty-seven years of Trek in one form or another. This book was part of a boxed set advertised at Walden Books in Christmas '80s. Having been born the year the original series went off the air, I grew up with it in syndication. It provided the background of my early years--coming on at about 5/5:30 on week nights, it was on when we were having supper. I enjoyed the show, but my interest in Trek didn't take off until I spotted that boxed set with a bow on it in a Christmas display. And being a reader, I promptly put it on my Christmas wish list. Santa delivered and I'm quite sure I blazed through all five of those books by the end of January.

This was one of my favorites of the set which also included The Abode of Life, The Klingon Gambit, The Entropy Effect, and The Prometheus Design and it still is. My previous reference to the novel said that I didn't much care for the fantasy elements--since that's not one of my preferred genres. But that aspect really didn't bother me much this time. I absolutely love that McCoy takes center stage as well as the fact that his relationship with Spock is featured. It is also appealing that I could see this as an expanded episode for the original series. Most of these early novels try to be faithful to the series and the characters--sometimes adding to their backstories, but the feel of the characters and the adventures are right. It was fun to watch Spock try to give advice to McCoy about the crush Kailyn has developed on our favorite doctor and interesting to hear the different versions of what makes a good leader from Spock, McCoy, and Shirn O'tay, the leader of the mountain settlement whom Stevvin had entrusted with the task of hiding the crown. 

Lots of good adventure, a tangle with Klingons, and a good amount of humor (which was integral to some of the best episodes of the series). Chekov's efforts to lose the ten pounds he'd mysteriously gained since his last physical added just the right amount of levity to the tense situation on board the Enterprise. Still one of my favorite Trek novels.★★★★

I, Robot: The Illustrated Screenplay

 I, Robot: The Illustrated Screenplay (2004) by Harlan Ellison based on short stories by Isaac Asimov

Synopsis (from the back of the book): The Greatest Science Fiction Movie Never Made! For more than 25 years numerous attempts were made to adapt Isaac Asimov's classic story-cycle, I, Robot, to the motion picture medium. all efforts failed. The magical, memorable tales of mechanized servitors with positronic brains, and the ways in which such amazing creations would forever alter human society through the justly famous Three Laws of Robotics, defied the most cunning efforts of scenarists and filmmakers. In 1977, producers approached multiple-award-winning author Harlan Ellison to take a crack at this "impossible" project. He accepted the challenge, and produced an astonishing screenplay that Asimov felt would be "The first really adult, complex, worthwhile science fiction movie ever made."

But it wasn't...made that is. Due to creative differences...or, as Ellison tells it, because he told a producer at Warner Brothers that he had "the intellectual capacity of an artichoke" after said producer proved he hadn't even read the screenplay he was attempting to make "suggestions" about...the plan was scrapped. The result? This incredible screenplay moldered for a while, then was published in Asimov's SF Magazine, and, finally, was brought to the public in this edition. The movie Ellison envisioned and Asimov approved is what science fiction fans deserved to see...not the movie we got with Will Smith.

Ellison frames the collection of separate stories with a story of Robert Bratenahl, a reporter, seeking the truth behind the connection between Dr. Susan Calvin, a famous robopsychologist, and Stephen Byerly, the recently deceased first President of the Galactic Federation. In doing so, he brings Calvin and her story very much to forefront--something not apparent in the Asimov stories, but which the author approved. We follow Bratenahl on his journey as seeks an interview with the reclusive Calvin...a journey that ends in an ancient structure in the Amazon jungle.

The book itself is beautiful with lavish illustrations by Mark Zug. It had been awhile since I had read a screenplay, so it took me a bit to get into the rhythm of reading work that was meant to filmed. But once I settled in, I thoroughly enjoyed Ellison's vision of Asimov's world. Now I have a sudden urge to reread all of Asimov's robot stories and novels again....  ★★★★

The Distant Hours

 The Distant Hours (2010) by Kate Morton

1992 London. Edie (Edith) Burchill's life is about to get interesting. A long-lost letter from the 1940s--initially mailed during World War II and just discovered languishing in a bagful of mail in a former postman's attic--arrives for her mother. It's obvious from Meredith Burchill's reaction that the letter has upset her, but Edie and her mother have never been very close and Meredith won't answer all of Edie's questions. She does tell her that she had been evacuated during the war and the letter was from one of the sisters she stayed with. The letter wasn't upsetting--just a shock.  But Edie notes the return address on the envelope. 

Through a set of fortuitous events, Edith winds up in the country near Milderhurst Castle--the place where the letter originated and she meets the now elderly women with whom her mother spent time in the 40s. It also just happens to be the home of Raymond Blythe, the author of Edie's favorite children's book The Mud Man. The Blythe sisters have spent their entire lives at the castle--in part because their father's will insisted on it and in part because the elder sisters (twins) have been taking care of the youngest, Juniper. Juniper has never been the same since the night her fiance was supposed to come to dinner and he never showed up--and was never heard from again.

Edie's aunt gives her letters that Meredith wrote to their parents during the evacuation which piques her curiosity even more. She becomes determined to discover the secrets that she's certain her mother is keeping. But there are bigger secrets in the castle--secrets that date from Raymond Blythe's time through the years that Meredith spent at the castle. And it just might be the case that some secrets should never be told.

The heart of the story is a really good one. The mysteries surrounding Meredith's childhood, Juniper's love affair, the origins of the Mud Man, and the Blythe family and their castle were definitely intriguing. And Morton has a definite gift for atmosphere and description of place. You can see the castle in all its dusty ruin. The place is full of despair and broken dreams. The poor Blythe sisters who longed for something more, but whose father arranged things so they could never have it. There are definite Gothic elements and I wanted to just sink into the story and enjoy all the shivers and mystery that come with Gothic. But I just couldn't immerse myself the way I wanted to. 

My biggest quibble with Morton's story is that she not only insists on telling us a great deal of the plot (through second-hand accounts in Meredith's letters and journal) but she then turns around and shows us the same details in flashbacks to the 1940s. We don't need both and it is always preferable to be shown than to just be told what happened and how the characters felt and acted. The book would have been considerably shorter if we could have just followed the action during each time period rather than being told about it first. 

Spoiler encoded In ROT13 (to decode, copy & paste, then click on the link and enter in the appropriate place)

Zl bgure qvfnccbvagzrag jnf jvgu gur npghny fbyhgvba gb jung unccrarq gb Whavcre'f svnapr. V thrffrq cneg bs vg, ohg vg jnf n uhtr yrg-qbja gung gur zna jnf xvyyrq va gur jnl ur jnf. V zrna, yrg gur qrngu unir fbzr zrnavat sbe Crgr'f fnxr. Vg jbhyq unir znqr gbgny frafr vs Crepl unq uvg uvz bire gur urnq naq qvfcbfrq bs gur obql gb xrrc Whavcre sebz zneelvat naq gur pnfgyr orvat tvira gb gur Pngubyvp Puhepu. Crepl jnf fb cebgrpgvir bs gur snzvyl'f vagrerfgf naq jnf fb qribgrq gb gur pnfgyr gung V pbhyq unir obhtug gung. Ohg gb unir uvz gel gb pyvzo hc gur pnfgyr jnyy* va n enva fgbez naq gura Fnssl cnavp (be unir n oenvafgbez--fvapr gung frrzf gb eha va gur snzvyl) be jungrire naq onfu uvz ba gur urnq jnf fhpu na nagvpyvznk. Vg whfg znqr n irel qrcerffvat fgbel nyy gur zber qrcerffvat. Whavcre vf qevira znq jvgu tevrs orpnhfr ure fvfgref xvyy ure oblsevraq (Fnssl) naq uvqr gur obql (Crepl)...naq yrg ure oryvrir sbe gur erfg bs ure yvsr gung ur wvygrq ure.

★★★  for the basis of the story and for the atmosphere. 

More Spoilers: *Naq, ol gur jnl, jung xvaq bs travhf tbrf gb zrrg gurve tveysevraq'f snzvyl sbe gur svefg gvzr naq qrpvqrf gung fvapr gurl nera'g pbzvat gb gur sebag qbbe va n gvzryl snfuvba gung vg jbhyq or n oevyyvnag vqrn gb fpnyr gur pnfgyr jnyy va gur zvqqyr bs n enva fgbez? Lrf, lrf, ur jnf tbvat gb gel naq svk gur fuhggre fb gur yvtug jbhyqa'g fubj va gur oynpx-bhg--ohg fgvyy. Naq jung xvaq bs nhgube znxrf gurve punenpgre qb fhpu na vafnaryl ovmneer guvat--rkprcg gb cebivqr n engure varyrtnag rkcynangvba bs jung unccrarq gb gur cbbe zna?

First line (prologue): Hush...Can you hear him?

First line (1st Chapter): It started with a letter.

Last line: The door closes behind her, leaving the ghostly lovers alone once more in the quiet and warm.

***************

Deaths = 19 (nine natural; two shot; two fell from height; five burned to death; one hit on head)

Tom O'Bedlam

 

Tom O'Bedlam (1985) by Robert Silverberg

It's 2103 and the world is made up of patches of blasted wastelands, full of radioactive particles, made uninhabitable by the Dust War. The coastal areas of the former United States are havens of clear air and thousands of refuges had made their way there in the decades following the dusting. Life is still hard in California--the winds from the east might blow the radiation in or savage scratchers (looters) might kill you for what you have (or what they think you have). But into this landscape comes Tom--poor Tom--crazy Tom. Tom is a man who has scene visions from the time he was young. He sees other planets and other peoples. Godlike beings who rule in peace and joy for all. As he makes his way north through California, he realizes the time the Crossing is at hand--a time when the other worlds will beckon and mankind will be able to join in a new age of peace. And as the time nears, Tom isn't the only one having visions of the other worlds, soon hundreds and thousands of others are having the visions too and they converge on a psychic healing center where Tom has found friends. Also headed north is a huge caravan of people following another prophet of the gods. A former taxi driver who also believes a time of changes is coming. But when these groups meet up with a band of scratchers who are also looking for Tom, will it result in a new age or just the end of humanity?

First thoughts: Very confused. This is a post-apoplectic world There are people who find it hard to believe that there once were airplanes that could make the trip across the United States in a few hours and yet...there are "mind picker" machines that can wipe selected memories from people's minds. The center has walls which act like viewscreens that can display information. There are vehicles that can hover along the ground rather than having wheels. There are "cubes" that will play any kind of music the owner selects. All sorts of technology seems to have survived the Dust War that left radioactive dust across the country's midsection and disrupted everything.

Second thoughts: I'm quite sure that I would have liked this a lot more if I'd read this during my heavy science fiction phase. At that time (1980s/early 90s) I was reading everything by Silverberg that came along. Silverberg can get pretty "out there" (Dying Inside, anybody?) and this novel is out there on the edge. Reading Silverberg in the latter half of my life is more of a crap shoot (The Masks of Time didn't do a whole lot for me when I read it in 2012; The Silent Invaders had a much better hook and story line). 

Third thoughts: Silverberg could have used a more ruthless editor on this one. The book is almost 400 pages long--about twice as long as necessary. We really don't need a dozen or more rehashings of the various otherworldly dreams (especially the Green World and how beautifully green and peaceful it is). We got it the first time. Honest.

Fourth thoughts, Robert Silverberg, I'm sorry, but I'm just not feeling this one. It took too long to get to the Crossing and then when we got there....it just fell flat and it seemed like there should have been something more. Very anticlimactic. Not the best Silverberg I've read (but then...I'm wondering what I would think now of some of the work I enjoyed so much back in the 80s). ★★

First line: This time something had told Tom to try going westward.

Last line: And he got up, wondering if there was still time to find Tom somewhere back in that madness, and began slowly to walk through the rain toward the bright green light that blazed before him in the heavens.

Pride of the Peacock

 Pride of the Peacock (1976) by Victoria Holt

 Jessica Clavering always knew there was a mystery in her past. Most people might put it down to the fact that her family--once landed gentry with sufficient means--came down in the world just before her birth. For hundreds of years Claverings lived in Oakland Hall, but after her grandfather and father both succumbed to the gambling bug the family fortunes never recovered and her father was forced to sell the family home to one of the new rich, Mr. Ben Henniker of Australia. After the family moved to the Dower House (still pretty fine in the grand scheme of things), they refused to have anything to do with Mr. Henniker and Jessica's mother never failed to point out how far down in the world they had come and how they owed their life of penury to her husband. 

But Jessica knows there's more wrong with her circumstances than simply being poorer than the family used to be. There's also the fact that she's not supposed to go near the stream that runs through the woods. And the hidden grave in the "Wasteland" area where no one goes...except for someone who puts a small bundle of flowers on the grave once a year. Every time she asks a question the family and servants tell her it's better that she not know. Jessica isn't satisfied with that, but it seems she'll never find out what everyone is keeping from her....

Until Ben Henniker returns to the Hall after an accident at his mines in Australia. He's out in the grounds alone in his wheelchair and Jessica runs to the rescue when it careens out of control down the hill. The two strike up an unlikely friendship and Jessica begins to learn a bit about her past--both from Ben and from the servants who stayed with the Hall when her family had to downsize. She has a few shocks in store...not least that Ben plans to arrange her marriage to his son Joss Madden. Ben hasn't exactly painted a rosy picture of Joss. Oh, sure, he's a fine figure of a man, but from what Ben tells her Joss is headstrong, stubborn, and full of pride--just like the peacocks Ben's Australian home is named for. Will she and Joss be able to resist the offer Ben makes them, contingent upon their marriage? And if Jessica does say yes, will she survive in the wilds of Australia? Because there's someone...maybe Joss himself?...who wants to make sure she doesn't.

So...once upon a time I read a lot of Victoria Holt and Phyllis A. Whitney novels. And I liked them a lot. But I'm not entirely sure this sort of book is my sort of book anymore. I'm just not really into these "oh we hate each other...he's so full of himself...he doesn't like me at all...she's the worst...she treats me like I've got the plague..." stories which turn suddenly (once we find out he's really not the brooding ogre we thought) into "Ooooh, I adore you. I can't live without you!" and let's live happily ever after.

Holt is a lot better at the mystery portion of the plot than the romance portion (at least in the opinion of my 50-something self). Not a lot of clue-planting, but good build-up and an interesting twist at the end. I don't think my previous paragraph is much of a spoiler--anyone who reads much in this line must know that the brooding "ogre" of a husband is never behind all the evil things happening to our heroine. ★★★

First line: I was quite young when I realized that there was something mysterious about me, and a sense of not belonging came to me and stayed with me.

Last line: "I can," I retorted. "And I will."

***************

Deaths: 7 (one natural; one broken neck; one fell from a horse; one drowned; one buggy accident; one shot; one fell from balcony)

[Finished 4/23/23]

Danger at the Drawbridge

 Danger at the Drawbridge (1940) by Mildred A.Wirt

This is the third in the Penny Parker detective series and my second attempt to get on with Mildred Wirt's favorite character (a girl detective that Wirt apparently thought was "a better Nancy Drew than Nancy is" (quote reference). If she says so...  I didn't think much of Penny when I first met her in Behind the Green Door, though she did improve as that book went along. I still don't think she's better than Nancy. In this particular adventure, she is trying to get her dad to let her cover the society wedding of the season. Miss Sylvia Kippenberg is set to marry Grant Atherwald and no reporters or photographers are allowed. There's been a mystery surrounding the Kippenberg's ever since Sylvia's father disappeared a few years ago. He was suspected by the Feds of having bought up gold when it was illegal to do so, but disappeared before anything could be proved. Mrs. Kippenberg doesn't want any notoriety marring her daughter's wedding and, so, has barred the newspapers from the event.

But Penny is resourceful and she and Salt, the Riverview Star's photographer manage to get into the grounds of the castle-like family estate...only to discover another mystery: the mystery of the missing groom. Atherwald arrives at the estate on the same boat launch that brings Penny and Salt. He's handed a note by one of the servants, heads down a path in the garden, and disappears into thin air. Penny discovers footmarks that seem to indicate a struggle and also a wedding ring that the bride-to-be says looks like the one Atherwald bought for her. Did someone kidnap the prospective groom? And if so, why? Penny is out to find out...and hopefully get a big scoop for her dad's newspaper. 

So...there's quite a bit of action in this one and Penny comes close to a watery grave. I'm not sure what I think of her investigative reporter skills. She seems to have a lot of hunches that manage to pan out. She is brave and willing to put herself in danger for what she thinks is the right thing to do...especially if it will get her a good story for the paper. But given that she's still a high school student, I'm surprised that her dad isn't more worried about the fact that his daughter is nearly drowned by the bad guys. A fairly decent mystery/adventure for girls, but I'm still not convinced that she's in Nancy's league. I'm not sure what I would have thought of her if I had discovered the books at the time I was reading the Nancy Drew books. But now?  ★★★--just.

First line: Penny Parker, leaning indolently against the edge of the kitchen table, watched Mrs. Weems stem strawberries into a bright green bowl.

Last line: "I just hope I won't have to wait too long for the next mystery to come along."

*************

Deaths = one natural

Fatal Enquiry

 Fatal Enquiry (2014) by Will Thomas:

Years ago in China, fighting in a war that wasn't his own, Cyrus Barker thought Sebastian Nightwine was his friend. Then Nightwine proved how treacherous he could be by sending Barker brother's on a mission he knew would fail. Cyrus vowed to make the man pay for his brother's death. Later in England, Barker exposed Nightwine's villainy which forced the colonel to flee England. But now the disgraced soldier has returned and has somehow earned the respect of the government and the right for police protection...from Barker. 

Nightwine has secret maps and a plan that will allow Britain to expand her already vast empire and not even Cyrus Barker will be allowed  to interfere with the scheme. It isn't long before Barker is framed for murder and he and his "Watson," Thomas Llewelyn are on the run from both the police and Nightwine and his henchmen. When a hefty reward is offered for their capture even long-time allies are tempted to turn them in. And, of course, Nightwine has a highly skilled assassin on their their trail as well--just to make certain sure that Barker won't mess up his plans, now or in the future.

Barker is just as determined to stop Nightwine--for good this time. He knows, as does Nightwine, that the twenty-five-year feud will come to end...because one of them will be dead at the end of this last confrontation. But he needs time to gather the evidence of the colonel's perfidy and time isn't a luxury that he and Llewelyn have.

So...once upon a time in 2014 I received this as an advanced reader copy. And somehow managed to not read and review it as planned. I think I wanted to read the two previous books first and then got sidetracked from my mission (soooo many books, too little time). But how on earth did almost ten years go by? 

Anyway...on to the review: Barker is in fine form as a far more mobile Nero Wolfe style detective. Highly intelligent, far ahead of the coppers, and always right. It was interesting to learn more of Barker's back story in this one--previously his past had been wrapped in mystery. But we learn a great deal about his early days in China. A past that very much informs the present adventure. It was also nice to see Llewelyn on his own for a bit. He isn't quite up to Barker's standard yet, but he acquits himself well--especially in his encounter with the spymaster. I was a bit dismayed at the number of victims who fell under the assassin's hand--and one victim in particular. I do see the point of the deaths, but still.

This isn't a whodunnit--we know who the bad guy is from the beginning. The mystery lies in how Barker will prove his innocence and how he and Llewelyn will be able to bring Nightwine to justice (of a sort). I am intrigued by the last chapter and wonder what might come of the news Barker is given at the end. ★★★ and 1/2

First line: It is a truth universally acknowledged, at least among private enquiry agents, that the most momentous of cases, the real corkers, begin on the blandest, most ordinary of days.

Meaning is as much in how we say a thing as in what we say. Even his grunt held a tone of disappointment. (p. 24)

The problem with nicknames, I've always thought, is one never gets to invent one's own. (p. 54)

Barker believes that all poets should have the decency to be dead at least a century or two. I feel the same way about politicians. (p. 245)

One cannot go about indiscriminately telling the truth. It must be doled out in bits and pieces or no one shall ever believe it. (p. 261)

Last line: "And Nightwine knew it the entire time!"

****************

Deaths =  9 (three natural; two stabbed; one shot; one poisoned; one hit on head; one shot)

The Genesis Secret

 The Genesis Secret (2010) by Tom Knox

Rob Luttrell has just recently witnessed an ugly suicide bombing in Baghdad while reporting on the war in the Iraq. His newspaper had ordered him out for some recuperation time, but now he wants to move on. Either to a new assignment or let him go home so he can see his daughter--if his ex will cooperate with his schedule. His editor decides to send him to Turkey for a "soft" job--just report on some stones and bones that are being dug up at place called Gobekli Tepe. If he turns in an informative, intelligent piece, then he can come straight back to England. He's not too keen, but once he gets to the site, meets the archaeologists (and one by the name of Christine in particular), and learns that the team has discovered the oldest known temple in the history of humankind. The details of the dig are interesting enough...but then he also learns about sabotage on site and Franz Breitner dies horribly in what looks like an accident, but Rob and Christine are sure was murder.

Meanwhile, back in the UK a series of incredibly grisly ritualistic murders has begun and DCI Forrester and his team are looking for connections. The rituals used are from different ancient religions and in each case it looks like the murderer was hunting for something as well as getting his sadistic jollies. When a link is discovered between the murders back home and what is happening in Turkey, things suddenly get much more personal for Rob and Christine--because the murderer has spotted the link as well. And that link, the object of the murderer's search, just might change the world's views on man's origins if it isn't destroyed first.

So, the archaeological premise of this was very interesting. I enjoyed the way Knox wove all the threads together to create a plausible theory of humankind's origins based on archaeological discoveries and also weaving Biblical stories into that theory. All the points for this novel go for that and the primary characters--Rob, Christine, DCI Forrester, and Officer Kiribali (in Turkey). I wish we had seen more of Isobel Previn and Professor Hugo De Savary because they were also interesting and quite distinct characters even in their brief moments in the plot. 

Now on to my difficulties with the plot--first up, all the grisly details. I'm not a big fan of blood and gore all over the page. And I really need to feel like it's driving the story when it appears.* Here, I just felt like we were being drenched in blood for the sake of killing. Which, I suppose does work into the ritualistic theme and the psychotic nature of the killer, but it still seems far more gratuitous than necessary. Not to mention that if you're going to put characters through that sort of thing (as spectators--especially at the end), then once the killer is caught and those forced to watch the gruesome deeds released then you can't just make everything hunky-dory at the end. There's got to be some serious therapy in store for at least one (if not more) of these characters. But it's simply addressed in what is almost a throw-away conversation: "She's amazing. She seems to have, basically, forgotten it all. A little frightened of the dark. Think that was the hood." Right.

I won't say much about my take on Rob and his ex and her immediate friendship with his new girlfriend. Just that (as another reviewer on Goodreads says) only a man would think this was a natural outcome especially when Knox set the ex up as such a pain in the fanny about allowing Rob to see his daughter. And on top of it--that the ex would not go into a murderous rage when the girlfriend puts that daughter in danger. Sure, she gets mad at Rob for not instantly rescuing the girl--but doesn't even get a little upset at the new woman in his life? Again...Right.

I wanted to love this book. I like mysteries with an interesting historical or research twist. And the beginning chapters were very promising. It just didn't live up to that promising beginning. ★★ and 1/2

(*The books by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child are good examples--usually have high body counts, but I always feel like the deaths were necessary to move the plot along.)

First line: Alan Greening was drunk.

Last line: But his sense of loss was touched by something else, something much more surprising: the faint and fleeting shadow of happiness.

******************

Deaths = 6 (one fell from height; three stabbed; one natural; one drowned)

[All I've got to say is if Knox was going to litter his book with so many deaths, the least he could have done is given every corpse a name so I could count them all towards the Medical Examiner Challenge.]

Beyond (mini-review)

 Beyond (1960) by Theodore Sturgeon

A collection of short stories from science fiction's Golden Age by a man whose name I first encountered as the writer of Star Trek episodes ("Amok Time" and "Shore Leave"). His science fiction often has a dark side and may veer more towards fantasy at times. A fairly interesting collection with two stories having mystery connections as well. I wasn't really taken by "Nighmare Island"--it needed to be more nightmarish or have a different title. My favorites are "Need" and "The Bones." ★★★

"Need": A man named Gorwing can "hear" the needs of his fellow men all around him. He does his best to attend to those needs and enlists the help of others in his quest. But it becomes difficult when two persons' needs conflict with one another....

"Abreaction": A bulldozer operator accidentally crosses through a tear in the fabric of the universe. Can he get back to his own reality? And will he remember who he is when he gets there?

"Nightmare Island": An island of intelligent, telepathic worms make a god of an alcoholic shipwrecked sailor.

"Largo": A musician composes his masterpiece--a largo meant to seek revenge on the man who ruined the perfect woman and to ensure that he (the musician) got her back and never lost her again. [three crushed to death] Who knew that you could murder through music?

"The Bones": An inventor (who reminds me for some reason of Doc in Back to the Future) creates a machine that can allow someone wearing headphones to experience the life connected to any bone used in the invention. The Sheriff ask him to use the machine to help get justice for a woman who died in a car accident. But what if the wearer stays connected to the point of the bone's owner's death? [two deaths]

"Like Young": The last remaining humans decide to leave behind lasting records of the sum of humanity's knowledge--a gift to those that will rise to take mankind's place. The animals most like to do so? Otters. But the otters have other ideas about what is important. A parable about man's arrogant view of humanity's importance. 

First line (1st story): Some towns seem able to defy not only time, but change; when this happens in the hinterland, one hardly amazed.

Last line (last story): But me, I'm a joyful throwback...I'm one with my ancestors:--I'm going hunting.

Sidney Chambers & the Perils of the Night

 Sidney Chambers & the Perils of the Night (2013) by James Runcie

Another round of interconnected short stories featuring Canon Sidney Chambers and his friend Inspector Keating. This time it is 1955 and Chambers finds himself caught up in the world of spies. The first story features the death of one of the fellows of Cambridge--Valentine Lyall and two students were doing a spot of "night climbing," scaling the towers and buildings of the university. Something goes wrong and Lyall, an experienced climber, plunges to his death and one of the undergraduates disappears. For reasons that are not entirely clear, the first thought is that Lyall was a spy recruiter--though for whose side, we don't know--and the two students must have been recruits. The university Master wants everything hushed up as a straightforward accident and asks Sidney to keep a watching brief for the university with Inspector Keating. At the end of the day, it is decided (whether rightly or wrongly) to say that it was an accident.

Next up is a bit of arson at an old summerhouse being used as a photographer's studio in Grantchester and Chambers finds himself the subject of gossip when he purchases a girlie magazine in pursuit of his part of the investigation. At the end of the investigation, he receives a small, spy-type camera from the photographer. The third story finds Chambers investigating the death of a mathematics professor. It appears to be a heart attack, but his friend Hildegarde isn't so sure. In the fourth story, Grantchester's best spin bowler is poisoned during a cricket match. Is the motive racially based? The next story focuses on Chambers' friend Amanda who thinks she's ready to marry an astrophysicist. But Chambers has doubts about the man and has to investigate. The sixth and last story circles back to the spy theme. Chambers goes to visit Hildegarde in Germany and stumbles across the student who disappeared in the first story. The student hands him a top-secret film, gets shot before his eyes, Chambers almost goes to prison, and then there's this twist at the end. Exciting stuff--which is in total contrast to the laid-back atmosphere of Grantchester and the rest of the book (even the spy overtones of the beginning).

I'm not going to lie...Sidney Chambers just isn't doing if for me. I wasn't all that excited about his debut when I read it two years ago, but I wanted to give him another chance. The most endearing thing about the man is he brings up Lord Peter Wimsey in the cricket match story. But, overall, my view of these stories still stands--the characters just don't grab me and I don't buy Chambers as an amateur detective. His style is all just talk to people and somehow he magically just knows what happened and is (according to Grantchester lore) "never wrong." The conversations he has with people just don't make a great deal of sense to me. They seem to be full of non sequiturs that don't connect in any way to what Chambers is investigating. I realize that some people do throw non sequiturs into conversations...but not every single conversation and not every single person you meet. There are people who just think that way and having a character that is like that is one thing; having stories full of them is another.

According to Kirkus Reviews, "only a churl could resist Sidney...." I guess that makes me a churl, because I'm resisting and redonating the remaining volumes of the series (I have four more...) to the library bookstore. Perhaps someone less churlish than I will enjoy them. ★★

First line: As the afternoon light faded over the village of Grantchester, the parishioners lit fires, drew curtains, and bolted their doors against the dangers of darkness.

Last line: Life had certainly bowled him the odd googly, and doubtless there would be further tests, trials, and tribulations, but just for now, on this day, it was to be enjoyed in all its fullness and with all its wonders, the most wondrous gift of all being nothing less than the love of such a fine woman, his very onw, his beloved Hildegarde.

**************

Deaths = 6 (one fell from height; one natural; one auto accident; one shot down in WWII; one drowned; one poisoned)

It Walks by Night

 It Walks by Night (1930) by John Dickson Carr

Alexandre Laurent, a man who once tried to kill his ex-wife, has escaped from the asylum for the criminally insane where he was sent after the incident. Louise Laurent is engaged to marry Raoul Jourdain, a handsome successful sportsman. Laurent vows to kill Jourdain because he can't bear the thought of Louise married to another. M. Henri Bencolin, detective, is just as determined to prevent the murder. Following the wedding, the bride and groom go to Fenelli's, a place to see and be seen, a place to dance and drink and gamble, if one chooses. Bencolin and his young American friend, Jeff Marle, as well as Dr. Hugo Grafenstein, a psychoanalyst, also go to the club and install themselves in an alcove directly opposite the card room.

At 11:30 pm, Louise Jourdain is sitting with the trio when they see Raoul enter the card room. Bencolin neve takes his eyes off the door. Stationed outside the only other entrance to the room is one of Bencolin's officers. No one enters until a waiter goes to the card room with drinks. The startled man stumbles out immediately and Bencolin realizes at once that something dreadful has happened. When the three men enter the room, they find Jourdain's body in front of the divan and his head staring at them from the middle of the floor. The only window in the room is open, but the sill is dust-covered and shows that no one went in or out--and even if that were not true, the window is forty feet from the ground and the wall is sheer. How could Jourdain have been killed when no one else went in or out? That is the question that Bencolin must answer. 

Oh my. What melodrama. At one point, Carr brings up Jules Barbey D'Aurevilly, a French author of mysterious works from (as Carr implies) "an imperially purple imagination" with "a kind of grotesque smiling detachment." He's comparing the work of Barbey to a play written by one of the characters, but he could have been talking about his own book. Carr's first novel and the first in the Bencolin series has it all. Wild melodrama. Gothic overtones. The implication that there is something evil walking by night. An impossible crime. Horrible death scenes. Indebtedness to Poe for one of the reveals. It also has long drawn-out narrative. When Jeff is on his own with any other character (besides Bencolin), the scene seems to go on for-ev-er.

The only other Bencolin book I've reviewed here on the blog is The Lost Gallows. I was much more impressed with that one and didn't seem bothered by the more atmospheric tones. Maybe thirteen years makes a difference. Or maybe I just wasn't in the mood for that sort of thing right now. Either way, I didn't warm to Bencolin in this book and I can't say that I was terribly impressed by our narrator either. The plot itself was fairly good and I have to say I completely missed the solution. So, I guess Carr did his job in mystifying me. I may have to revisit this one at another time. ★★★

First line: "...and not least foul among these night-monsters (which may be found even in our pleasant land of France) is a certain shape of evil hue which by day may not be recognized, inasmuch as it may be a man of favoured looks, or a fair and smiling woman; but by night becomes a misshapen beast with blood-bedabbled claws."

Last line: She had kept her appointments with three men; she would have murdered them all.

**************

Deaths = 4 (two beheaded; one stabbed; one hit on head)

Garden of Deadly Delights

 Garden of Deadly Delights (1996) by Cynthia Manson (ed)

Manson has put together a bouquet of nineteen deadly blossoms taken from the gardens of Ellery Queen and Alfred Hitchcock (or at least from their mystery magazines). We get classic authors like Agatha Christie & G. K. Chesterton and Eudora Welty, Nathaniel Hawthorne & Lord Dunsany. Mixed among these well-known names are quite a few that I didn't recognize. And, as with all anthologies, some of the mix works and others don't. I could have done without Lord Dunsany's "Three Men in a Garden" and neither Eudora Welty's "A Curtain of Green" nor "The Ghost in the Garden" by Dan Crawford strike me as mysteries. Although...it is a bit of a mystery at the end of the Welty story whether a death has occurred at the end or not. But, taken as a whole, A very enjoyable collection. ★★★★ 

"How Does Your Garden Grow?" by Agatha Christie:  "How Does Your Garden Grow?": Poirot receives a letter from a woman needing someone with discretion. She dies before being able to meet with him to explain. And he goes to investigate--he finds the nursery rhyme in the title very informative. Similar beginning to Dumb Witness and notable for the appearance of Miss Lemon. [one poisoned]

"The Cop Who Loved Flowers" by Henry Slesar: Captain Flammer's love of flowers leads him to the proof that will convict the man who killed the woman the captain loved. A woman who loved flowers too. [one shot]

"Garden of Evil" by Carol Cail: What if plants were sentient--would they take revenge on those who prune and cut and eat them? [5 deaths = one fell from height; one natural; one strangled; one rabies; one shot]

"Clubbed to Death" by Donald Olsen: A man retires early so he and his wife can travel like they always dreamed. But he finds she's too tied to her clubs to make time for travel. What's a man to do? [one poisoned]

"The Garden of Smoke" by G. K. Chesterton: Inspector Traill of Scotland Yard discloses the solution to how a woman was killed with her own rose. [two poisoned]

"The Price of Tomatoes" by William Bunce: A man used to winning the prize for tomatoes each year at the garden show is disgruntled when his new neighbor begins taking first place. He'll do anything to come in first again. Anything. [one stabbed]

"Early Retirement" by Frances Usher: A man forced into an early retirement on a very small income comes up with a plan to fund the garden of his dreams. He soon finds another little hobby to help keep his garden blooming splendidly. But what if his wife thinks he's spending too much time on his little hobbies? [5 deaths =one heart attack; four strangled]

"Venus Fly-Trap" by Ruth Rendell: Two old "friends"* wind up with flats in the same building. Merle has hers made up like a little hothouse--plants everywhere, including a venus flytrap. Unfortunately, there's more than death than just flies at the end of this one. (*I honestly don't know why Daphne wants to associate with Merle again) [one strangled]

"The Puzzle Garden" by Edward D. Hoch: The Garden of the Apostles holds a secret--treasure buried before the communists took over. It also holds death..[one heart attack; two stabbed]

"One Last Picture" by Sherita Saffer Campbell: An old rival's grandson comes to visit Sadie Mae. He wants to take a picture of her to take back to his grandma. Sadie insists he take the picture before they sit down and have a nice glass of lemonade... [not clear if anyone drinks it]

"A Curtain of Green" by Eudora Welty: When Mrs. Larkin's husband is taken from her (through a freak accident--a tree crushing him in his car), she takes to her garden. She plants and weeds and plants until the yard becomes jungle-like and she seems lose herself in the curtain of green.  [one accident]

"The Scent of Murder" by Frances & Richard Lockridge: Ronnie Beede, a killer, has escaped the psychiatric ward of an upstate hospital, killing two on his into Captain Heimrich's territory. A housewife is killed while her husband is over the hill in their garden. It looks like Beede has claimed another victim. [one shot]

"Three Men in a Garden" by Lord Dunsany: The mystery of the murder in an Irish garden--and the real mystery to me is why it's been included in this collection. There's no mystery--we know who did what. But we never learn the "why" behind the initial set-up. [one shot]

"The Ronnie" by K. D. Wentworth: In the future, there are things called VegeTots--a bit more than pets and somewhat less than children. They are animated vegetables with a life of their own. When Ronnie's owner is threatened by her abusive husband, the VegeTot takes matters into is own leaves. [one natural; one suffocated]

"The Ghost in the Garden" by Dan Crawford: Not strictly a mystery--there is ghost haunting the ancient garden at the palace in Merodale. The townspeople, though very hungry and knowing that fruit trees grow there, are afraid to enter because of the ghost. Then a magician comes along who can break the spell.

"Rappaccini's Daughter" by Nathaniel Hawthorne: A medical researcher grows a garden made up entirely of poisonous plants. He trains is daughter in the care of of the deadly flowers and vegetation and she becomes immune to their effects. In fact, she begins to take on the characteristics of the plants...even her breath can be deadly. Can the young man who sees her and falls in love with her save her from her deadly destiny? [one poisoned]

"Parrots in My Garden" by Dorothy B. Davis: A woman is let go from her job just a week before her husband tells her he's leaving her for another (younger) woman. Eileen decides she's not going to take the matter lying down... [two shot]

"The Azalea War" by Wyc Toole: What begins as a feud between neighbors over a row of azalea bushes, a German shepherd, and a property line ends in deadly tragedy. [three shot]

"The Mushroom Fanciers" by Lawrence Treat: When a well-to-do family's butler puts together a tell-all book that gets the attention of the Attorney General, the butler begins to fear for his life...with good cause. [one stabbed]

First line (1st story): Hercule Poirot arranged his letters in a neat pile in front of him.

Last line (last story): We miss Ella and her mushrooms.

Over Sea, Under Stone

 Over Sea, Under Stone (1965) by Susan Cooper

The first book in Cooper's The Dark Is Rising fantasy series has a heavy dose of mystery in it. Barney, Simon, and Jane Drew are headed to Cornwall with their parents to spend a month with their Great Uncle Merry (Merriman Lyon). Uncle Merry is well known for disappearing on quests for treasures that wind up in museums and the children hope that they might find some treasure of their own. When a rainy day see them exploring all the nooks and crannies of the house the family has rented from an old sea captain, it looks like their hopes may be fulfilled. In a dusty corner of a hidden attic, Barney finds an old piece of manuscript with a rough drawn map and with words written in ancient script. The words they are able to decipher lead them to believe that there is a treasure hidden "over sea, under stone" and connected in some way to King Arthur.

As they begin their own quest, they find their journey dogged by a trio on a mysterious yacht as well as the local vicar. It seems that evil forces are gathering and they turn to their great uncle for help. But will he be able to protect them when their search leaves them trapped by the rising tide between the cliff and the sea....and the evil forces waiting on the yacht? 

This is a delightful children's fantasy novel filled with mystery and adventure and a good old battle between the forces of good and evil. I cannot believe that I never discovered and read it when I was growing up. I would have loved and appreciated it so much more if I had. Reading it in my fifties was fun--but not nearly as much fun as it would have been if I had still been in my single digits. 

I enjoyed the connections to Arthur and the way the children worked out the clues that led them to the grail--not the Holy Grail, but a cup that depicts several scenes from the life of Arthur. They work together (despite some mandatory sibling squabbling) and each play an important role in figuring out a step in the process. Great fun! ★★★★

First line: "Where is he?"

Last line: "I think we shall know," he said slowly, "one day."

*******************

Deaths = two natural

The 2023 TBR Pile Challenge

 

Here I go again...another challenge. But I have to do this one. Really. I always do Adam's The TBR Pile Challenge over at Roof Beam Reader. It was one of the first challenges I did when I started blogging and I have to do it.

Here's the main point: If you join the challenge, then you will commit to read 12 books (one for each month) from your TBR list. Each of these books must have been on your TBR list for AT LEAST one year. None of the books may have a publication date of 1/1/22 or later. Once you submit the list, you are committed to those books with two alternates (in case you just cannot finish one or two of the titles).

For the full run-down of the challenge details, hop over to Adam's blog (click on link above), read the rules, and join me in my quest to reduce the teetering stacks.

My List:

1. It Walks By Night by John Dickson Carr (2/24/23)

2. Sidney Chambers & the Perils of the Night by James Runcie (3/11/23)

3. Tom O'Bedlam by Robert Silverberg (5/16/23)

4. Pride of the Peacock by Victoria Holt (4/23/23)

5. The Distant Hours by Kate Morton (6/29/23)

6. Over Sea, Under Stone by Susan Cooper (1/23/23)

7. The Covenant of the Crown by Howard Weinstein (9/12/23)

8. Fatal Inquiry by Will Thomas (4/9/23)

9. I, Robot: The Illustrated Screenplay by Harlan Ellison & Isaac Asimov (7/5/23)

10. Garden of Deadly Delights by Cynthia Manson, ed. (2/7/23)

11. The War Come Home by Deborah Cohen

12. Beyond by Theodore Sturgeon (3/26/23)

Alternates:

1. The Genesis Secret by Tom Knox (3/29/23)

2. Danger at the Drawbridge by Mildred A. Wirt (4/10/23)

The Nine Billion Names of God

 The Nine Billion Names of God (1967) by Arthur C. Clarke

This was, as far as I can remember, my very first taste of Clarke when I began my exploration of classic science fiction in the 80s. The first (and title) story is a knock-out. "The Nine Billion Names of God" and "The Last Question" by Isaac Asimov are my two all-time favorite short stories in science fiction. "Names" hooked me on Clarke and made me search out his other work--from the Space Odyssey books through The Tales from the White Hart. Clarke's longer works are well worth reading, but he was an absolute master of the short story and this collection is a great introduction to him. ★★★★★

"The Nine Billion Names of God": This title story is a stunner. All about monks who want to use technology to speed up their sacred task. The last line is absolutely perfect. I loved this story when I first discovered Arthur C. Clarke and it still resonates with me. 

"I Remember Babylon": Clarke places himself as the narrator of this cautionary tale about the dangers that might come with the convenience of satellite transmissions. Those who use propaganda and information as a weapon are always eager for a new method of attack.

"Trouble with Time": A clever little mystery about a Martian robbery that goes wrong. Makes a play off of a key plot point from Verne's Around the World in 80 Days.

"Rescue Party": Aliens from another part of the galaxy head to Earth on a rescue mission when the scientists of their federation determine that Sol is going to go nova. When the ships arrive, they are confused to find evidence of primitive (by their standards) technology, but also evidence that the inhabitants may have escaped by rocket ship. In the middle of their mission, part of the alien crew gets caught in the humans' underground travel system. Will the rescuers be rescued in time?

"Summertime on Icarus": Scientists have always wanted to get a closer view of the sun--but if you get too close, you'll burn alive. Our narrator is part of team who is sent to Icarus (an asteroid that will pass near the sun). They plan to set up instruments on the side that will face the sun and scurry to the dark side before it's too late. And then something goes wrong with the mission...

"Dog Star": A story about an astronomer and the dog he rescues...and who rescues him--twice. The second time is after death (the dog's) and far away on the moon.

"Hide & Seek": A spy in the interstellar wars manages to out wit the commander of a huge battle cruiser by playing a little game of hide and seek on Phobos. The commander's superiors never could understand why the commander of the fleet's fastest ship couldn't catch a lone man in a space suit.

"Out of the Sun": Another story about observing the sun--this time from the surface of Mercury. This time astronomers are left wondering just what exactly is in those solar flares that erupt from the sun? Is it possible that the energy released is the energy of life?

"The Wall of Darkness": A story of the single planet revolving around a lone star. A wall of darkness lies at the edge of the habitable region of Shervane's world. And when he learns of it, he becomes determined to find out what is on the other side. Legends say madness lies there. Sometimes, legends hold an element of truth...

"No Morning After": A second story about intergalactic beings making an effort to rescue the human race. This time the humans are still on Earth, but only one man is in a receptive state of mind to receive their telepathic messages. And he thinks they're just the after-effects of a bottle of whisky.

"The Possessed": Clarke comes up with an interesting reason behind all those lemmings jumping into the sea.

"Death & the Senator": Senator Steelman receives two shocks. The first is when, in the months leading up to a possible bid for the Presidency, he's told he's going to die. The second occurs after he has made peace with the fact that is time is running out...only to be told that a new treatment, requiring him to spend time in space, could save his life. Has one the two best last lines in the collection.

"Who's There?":  When a space station supervisor is told there is a stray object floating about that needs retrieving, he's the only one available to do the job. It should be just routine, but what are those weird noises coming from his space suit?

"Before Eden": Earthmen are finally investigating Venus and are surprised to find flowing water at the South Pole (the coolest part of the planet). The biologist is excited to think that they may be there to witness the beginnings of life on the Venus. But will their presence change the course of Venus's history? This is a cautionary tale about how even the smallest change in an environment might cause great harm.

"Superiority": A story of David and Goliath on an interstellar scale. The more primitive race takes on those whose weapons are superior, but sometimes giants do fall. And sometimes they even trip over their own feet.

"A Walk in the Dark": Robert Armstrong is making his way from camp on an unnamed planet to Port Sanderson where he will catch a ship for home when a series of accidents impedes his journey. First his tractor transport breaks down. He fixes it. It breaks down again. He decides to walk the four remaining miles and sets off with a flashlight. The flashlight goes out. And now he must make the journey in total darkness. Feeling his way along to keep himself on the narrow road. And then he remembers the tale told by the old Base clerk at Port Sanderson about his walk in the dark and the sound of clicking claws he heard...

"The Call of the Stars": A man who left his father behind on Earth in order to be among the first on the space station watches the twentieth century turn into the twenty-first from space. He also prepares to watch his son leave him behind to head out on a mission to Mars.

"The Reluctant Orchid": A timid young orchid-grower by the name of Hercules is managed by an overbearing aunt. He discovers a carnivorous breed of orchid and imagines a life without his aunt...

"Encounter at Dawn": A survey starship with a three-man crew lands on a distant planet much like their own. There they find a bipedal race also much like their own but at a much earlier point of development and they wish they could stay and help the beings lift themselves towards civilization more quickly. [Clearly no Prime Directive in force here...] But they must leave to tend to their own civilization. They wonder what these beings will become.

"If I Forget Thee, Oh Earth...": Colonists on the moon are the last human beings left after a nuclear war on their home planet. Each generation is taken to a particular place in the colony to look on the Earth and be reminded that the colony must survive so that one day, when it's safe, they can return and reclaim their home.

"Patent Pending": A scientist's assistant, Georges, becomes obsessed with a machine that can record sensations and play them back just like music. He decides to use it for erotic pleasure and is so caught up in the experience that he neglects everything and everyone.

"The Sentinel": The story from which 2001: A Space Odyssey grew. Explorers on the moon find no sign of intelligent life ever having been there before man...Until they find a lone relic high up in the mountains. The narrator speculates that an ancient alien race placed it there, watching to see if intelligent life ever emerged from the cradle of the Earth.

"Transience": In both the first story and here in the penultimate story of the collection, Clarke gives us a view of the end of things. The first story gives us the end of everything. "Transience" shows us that all things change; all things must come to an end. Even our time here on Earth.

"The Star": A Jesuit priest/explorer suffers a crisis of faith when the exploration team discovers the protected records of an earth-like civilization lost when their sun went supernova.

First line (1st/title story): "This is a slightly unusual request," said Dr. Wagner, with what he hoped was commendable restraint.

He was still marveling at the narrowness of his escape when his time ran out and Death fell softly from the summer sky. (p. 142) [I think Clarke excelled at last lines. This is a marvelous ending to "Death & the Senator."]

Last line (next-to-last story--if I give the last line of the last story, it will spoil it): For man had come and gone.

Hans Brinker or The Silver Skates

 Hans Brinker or The Silver Skates (1865) by Mary Mapes Dodge

Hans Brinker is a classic children's story set in Holland and focusing on the poor, but honorable Brinker family. Hans, at 15 years old, and his little sister Gretel, 12, have few friends and miss out on much schooling because they must work to help their mother support their family. Mr. Brinker was a worker on the dykes and made a decent living until he suffered a head injury from a fall from the dyke ten years ago. Since that time, he never speaks and mostly just stares into space. But when he grows irritable and causes physical damage to their home and scares their mother, Hans decides that something must be done.

The two children wanted more than anything to be able to skate in the great race down the frozen canals. There would be two winners--a boy and a girl--and the prize would a set of beautiful silver skates. But the Brinkers cannot afford good skates and only have homemade skates made of sharpened wood and tied to their boots. Two kind-hearted children arrange for both Gretel and Hans to have fine, new skates. But proud Hans insists on working for the money and carves wooden necklaces. Peter, one of the kind-hearted children, suggests to his family that Hans could do the carving which they have wanted done on the front door frame. And Hans sees this as a way to earn money for a doctor. 

But with his father's recent behavior, he has to approach the doctor before he has earned the money and sells his new skates to pay the doctor. Fortunately, Dr. Boekman takes a liking to Hans and offers his services for free. He performs a risky operation and Mr. Brinker regains his speech. Memories follow--but more slowly. The family are anxious for all of his memories to return because there are some mysteries to clear up.  

I never realized that Hans Brinker had--in addition to a charming children's story--a mystery at the heart of it. Two mysteries, in fact. First, there is the missing savings of the Brinker family. A large sum of money--all of their savings--went missing on the same night that Mr. Brinker had his fall from the dyke. The second mystery involves Dr. Boekman's missing son. The answers to both mysteries are locked in Mr. Brinker's brain and it isn't until Hans convinces Dr. Boekman to treat his father that the mysteries will be solved.

This was an enjoyable, uplifting children's story that focuses on family, loyalty, and friendship. It, of course, has a happy ending though {SPOILER} I was surprised to find that Hans isn't the one who wins the silver skates. Since he's in the title and is our primary protagonist, I really expected him to be the winner. But the ending is most satisfactory anyway--Hans's sense of loyalty prompts him to help a friend win and Gretel does wind up the winner of the girls' race. I appreciated the fact that Dodge tells us what happened to all of our primary characters in the years that followed. She also manages to relay a great amount of information gleaned in researches about the Netherlands without making the reader feel like the recipient of info dumps. ★★★★

First line: On a bright December morning long ago, two thinly clad children were kneeling upon the bank of a frozen canal in Holland.

There is an Angel called Charity who would often save our hearts a great deal of trouble if we would but let her in. (p. 150)

Last line: But lest you forget a tiny form trembling and sobbing on the mound before the Brinker cottage: they will never weary telling of the darling girl who won The Silver Skates.

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Deaths = 2 (one natural; one poisoned)