The Story of Webster
by P. G. Wodehouse
The American Magazine (February 1932); reprinted Mulliner Nights (Herbert Jenkins, 1933)
Like so many of Wodehouse’s ‘Mulliner’ stories, this comes across as a repurposed bit of business from a Bertie Wooster novel. The delivery is quintessential Wodehouse but there’s a nagging sense that the events described are taking place divorced of greater context. $466
The Dutch Shoe Mystery
by Ellery Queen (Gollancz, 1931)
audiobook read by Mark Peckham (Blackstone, 2013)
The third Ellery Queen mystery is just as personable but laborious as its predecessors. The clues are all there, the logic stacks up—save perhaps that the nurse was herself not seen coming or going—but remains buried in waffle and minutiae.
Topside
by Philip E. High
Authentic SF, No. 83 (August 1957), 58-77.
Lopsided short story which spends too long bringing its (seemingly all-male) cast out of suspended animation post-cataclysm, and not enough on their reclaiming Earth’s surface. Of interest primarily in comparison with High’s novel Sold – For a Spaceship, which does the job properly.
They Do It With Mirrors
by Agatha Christie (Dodd, Mead and Company, 1952)
audiobook read by Joan Hickson (Lamplight, 2015)
While the confrontation in the study need arouse suspicion, Christie then succeeds in drawing attention elsewhere, not actively deceiving or manipulating her audience so much as lulling it through conversational overload (an effective if inelegant use of omniscient narrative). Everything hangs together.
The Circus of Adventure
by Enid Blyton (Macmillan, 1952)
audiobook read by Thomas Judd (Bolinda, 2021)
A return to form, albeit predictable in parading out simple, salt-of-the earth circus folk, foreign villains, disguised princes, daring stowings-away, secret passages, and baddies who couldn’t recognise made-up languages or a parrot in the dark to save their lives—all Blyton staples!
Lords and Ladies
by Terry Pratchett (Victor Gollancz, 1992)
audiobook read by Indira Varma (Penguin Audio, 2022)
Over-padded in places but otherwise a merry old romp. Pratchett draws readers in through Nanny Ogg and Granny Weatherwax before crafting a suitably dark take on (cruel, catlike) elves. Ridcully is given some depth. Magrat comes into her own—the book’s highpoint!
Le Charretier de la Providence
by Georges Simenon (1931)
trans. David Coward (as ‘The Carter of La Providence’)
audiobook read by Gareth Armstrong (Bolinda, 2015)
While Maigret’s second outing works as a period piece, affording a dismal though not unkind picture of those who navigated boats through the French canals and locks in the early 1930s, his brooding personality plays little role in shaping the (non-event) investigation.
Star Wars: The Phantom Menace
dir. George Lucas (1999)
This has the makings of a good film. Neeson is excellent. Portman and McGregor bring class (even if underused). But Palpatine’s machinations contribute nothing immediate, Lucas draws a grating correlation between accent and intelligence, and Darth Maul dies an unforgivably insipid death.
Terminator 2: Judgement Day
dir. James Cameron (1991)
Terminator 2 ups the ante while staying true to the original film’s nightmare thriller vibe. The effects hold up, the humour works, Edward Furlong does pretty well. Linda Hamilton is peerless in reinventing Sarah Connor from 80s victim/survivor to iconic 90s badass.
Ender’s Game
by Orson Scott Card (Tor, 1985)
audiobook read by Stefan Rudnicki & Harlan Ellison (Macmillan Audio, 2004)
Card’s straightforward prose serves well in the military context, as does Rudnicki’s audiobook narration. The story zips along, revealing itself ultimately to have been as much a critique of humanity as of the total war mentality, ruthless training techniques and early-childhood indoctrination.