Raisins and Almonds
by Kerry Greenwood (Allen & Unwin, 1997); audiobook read by Stephanie Daniel (ABC Audio, 2010)
Greenwood’s ongoing survey of 1920s Melbourne leads Phryne to investigate its Jewish culture and the interbellum migrant experience (plus a largely incidental murder). The story sweeps along at Miss Fisher’s heels and proves a charming way to learn something of Australian history.
Souls
by Joanna Russ, Fantasy & Science Fiction (January 1982), 7-46.
Historical novelette relating the sacking of an abbey by Viking raiders. Russ’s treatment offers a welcome departure from the action-driven narratives more common to speculative fiction. The Abbess Radegunde proves an especially formidable presence, yet the SF denouement is vague and unsatisfying.
The Jackson Killer
by Philip E. High, New Worlds 106 (May 1961), 72-89.
One of High’s more coherent short stories. A specially trained government agent is sent to one of the colony worlds to flush out and kill a rare, off-the-scale IQ ‘superman’ whose inevitable paranoia heralds disaster. The twist more or less justifies itself.
The Body
by Robert Sheckley, Galaxy (January 1956)
reprinted Galaxy UK 36 (March 1956), 123-128.
SF flash piece whose 20th-Century premise and slantwise cynicism wouldn’t be out of place if applied to digital consciousness. An eminent scientist conquers old age but loses said eminence when his brain is transplanted—successfully!—into the body of a small dog.
Houseguest
by Timothy Zahn, Fantasy & Science Fiction (January 1982), 74-86.
SF short. A slapdash planetary survey consigns miners to a desperate survival situation, taking refuge inside sentient rock dwellings (who aren’t much enamoured with them!). Zahn proceeds efficiently through scenario, threat, escalation and solution, the implications of which provide food for thought.
The Woman in White
by Wilkie Collins (Sampson Low, Son, & Co., 1860)
audiobook read by Roger Rees & Rosalyn Landor with John Lee & Judy Geeson (Blackstone, 2009)
A remarkably accessible novel given its historical remove. Collins crafts some truly memorable characters, and while the patriarchal disempowering of women is hard to stomach (making for an anxious, difficult read in the midsection), the plot undeniably makes good upon Hartright’s reintroduction.
The Man Who Knew Too Little
dir. Jon Amiel (1997)
A largely unheralded ‘mistaken identity’ spy comedy that proves more interested in being funny than good. Those who dislike Bill Murray will find nothing here to change their opinion, but the script wrings plenty of laughs from an outlandish premise wholeheartedly embraced.
Five Go Adventuring Again
by Enid Blyton (Hodder & Stoughton, 1943); audiobook read by Jan Francis (Bolinda, 2021)
Something of a one-note story. The only possible suspect has thin lips and doesn’t like dogs, so George and Timmy take an instant dislike to him. Everyone else thinks George is just being difficult. She is vindicated via the inevitable secret passage.
The Martian Hunters
by Philip E. High, New Worlds 112 (November 1961), 71-88.
SF short story in need of a rewrite. Odd that High’s imagination could so effortlessly accommodate Martian technology and even an ethical framework far beyond human values, yet no characters outside his stock range of similarly surnamed (male) British heroes and villains.
Double Indemnity
by Robert Sheckley, Galaxy 57 (December, 1957), 78-105.
Playful SF novelette in which Sheckley takes the concept of double indemnity insurance and works in a physical double. His protagonist is a base schemer whose time travelling machinations are brought undone by an equally sly main-chancer. The comeuppance is neatly executed.