In Scorpio Assassin (1992; #39 in the series))
Dray Prescott is still teamed up with a female, with both of them assigned
by the Star Lords to a certain task. Of course they are not told what
that task is exactly, other than protecting someone. After several of
the people they were trying to protect are killed they are finally able
to figure out who needs to be protected and why. By the end of the 39th
volume in this series the Star lords are angry with Dray for "failing"
his mission, and they round him up for his punishment. But he is so
angry with them because of their lack of full disclosure that it is the
Star Lords I pity, not Dray. Another good entry in the series, which
has rarely if ever been reduced to pot boiler status. Each plot is
carefully worked out, considerably different from previous books, and
the list of characters and races is so vast that we seldom tire of a
particular character. The novel was first published in Germany, then
finally came to the English speaking world in 1996. It is 234 pages
long. I read the Kindle edition. *** stars.
A World Aflame is
number 13 in the Cap Kennedy series, Tubb's SF version of Doc Savage
and his earthbound exploits. I am alternating two series by the author, this and the Earl Dumerest saga. Cap has three assistants, each one a very
special man. Published in 1974, the novel is a brief 128 pages. Tubb
harkens back to a 1952 novel of his, Tide of Death, also known as World At Bay.
Essentially an atomic energy experiment goes wrong and begins eating up
a planet, with its consumed soil creating a hole that grows
exponentially hour by hour. In this update, Cap must contend with a
powerful woman in charge of her planet, who wants no interference from
Earth agents. She hopes her power experiment will keep her world
independent, and the extra energy exported to make her planet rich.
The
experiment begins with a found object of the Zheltyana, an ancient and
nearly forgotten race that once had ruled the galaxy. Only traces of
their great discoveries are occasionally found, and the object in
question, the Xuyen Torus, was stolen from a museum that scientifically
studies any found remnants of this civilization. Of course in the right
hands such knowledge might be useful if approached cautiously. But
working in a hurry causes the experiment to quickly get out of control.
Can Cap and his boys save the day yet again? Read for yourself and
find out. A decent entry in the series.
*** stars
Turning now to the Delphi Classics on Kindle, I began with Richard Marsh's 1897 crime novel The Crime and the Criminal. The novel is divided into four books. Book 1 is told by Thomas Tennant, the almost innocent nincompoop who becomes embroiled in a young woman's murder. Riding a train from Brighton to London, his ends up sharing a carriage with a woman known to him previously. She attacks him, they struggle briefly, and she ends up falling out of the train. The nincompoop does not press the emergency button, nor tell anyone about what happened. He is cut from broken glass from the door banging open and shut, leaving a lot of blood behind.
Book Two is told by Reginald Townsend, a very handsome man and a scoundrel of the blackest sort. He belongs to a secret Murder Club and has drawn short straw. He must kill someone within the month, and does so. He knows Thomas, knows that he is innocent, but says nothing. Thomas is eventually caught, put on trial by a maddened English public who is horrified by his crime of murdering a young woman.
The third book is told by Mrs. Caruth, a widow who falls in love with Reginald, and has a soul as black as his. She was the woman in the carriage with poor Thomas. She knows of his innocence also, since the woman supposedly murdered is herself and quite alive, but she wishes to marry Reginald so keeps silent. She knows that Reginald is the murderer, and plans to blackmail him into marrying her. So who was murdered? Another girl, murdered by Reginald, in the same location and at the same time that Mrs. Caruth falls out of the train.
The fourth and final book is told by the author, who has much to say about criminal trials of the time and "evidence" presented and witness statements. There is only one decent character in the entire book, and that is the wife of the accused, Mrs. Tennant. She is a brick. The final book is well written and all the plots are tied together. My main quibble with the book is the sheer volume of coincidences that occur in order to keep the story alive. I like the idea of the four different perspectives, and rather than repeating what the previous person has reported, the author briefly reviews prior happenings and then moves the plot forward again. By the time we get to the fourth book things are bubbling away nicely, and the author can tie up all of the characters and the plot very neatly. Fun to read, though a bit hard to believe.
***1/2 stars.
Next came another set of WW I stories from H.C. McNeil ("Sapper"). From 1915 there are 16 tales, most of them very brief. Sergeant Michael Cassidy, R. E. tells the author, an officer and fellow engineer, a number of stories while in hospital recovering from a foot injury. Many of the stories are light-hearted and humourous, no doubt for the benefit of wounded soldiers recovering from war wounds and trauma, and for their nurses and doctors. However, there are a few deadly serious ones, too. "A Word To the Shirkers" hits upon the young men who did not volunteer to serve their country, and does not hold back. "The Christmas Truce" is quiet and poignant, while "The Terrible Danger of Funk" warns of the dangers of complacency. Like the previous volume (see January 2025 reading summary blog), this is a must read for those of us who want to remember what war really is. Though the writing not always top quality, the stories are. Highly recommended.
*** 1/2 stars.
Emilia In England (later changed to Sandra Belloni) is a novel from 1864 by George Meredith (republished with its new name in 1887) that follows the fortunes of a country family trying to align itself with famous and rich people. The fortunes of three daughters, a son and their father are told in three volumes, with Emilia, a common girl with a very good singing voice, at the center of the plot to attract a higher class of people to the family to improve their fortunes. Emila is the main attraction because of her singing voice. She falls for Wilfrid, the brother, but he is pretty much a wishy washy cad. His father wishes him to marry Lady Charlotte, and he agrees, though he loves Emilia. She trusts him for a while, but eventually realizes that he is otherwise destined. There are a lot of characters and there is a lot of tragedy. However, Meredith is a sophisticated writer of literature and handles all with great dexterity and aplomb. One of the most compelling parts of this very long novel is when Emilia is at her lowest point. She wanders London for several days and nights, eventually becoming starved, filthy and ready to immerse herself in the oily black Thames River. She is rescued by a close friend who had been searching for her everywhere. However, his discovering her was not by chance, as she had left a trail of clues behind her among some street children she had befriended. The ending is somewhat unexpected for its time. Emilia and Wilfrid--well, never mind the spoiler. It was a very good ending, as I had expected "the usual" happy ever after sort of thing. Much better than most writers of his time, his work seems totally ignored among the cult of the Brontes, Jane Austen and their ilk. Stories like this are ripe for a TV series.
Finally comes a great adventure story by A Merritt. From 1931 it is called The Face In The Abyss. It is a suitable title, and when you hear it think of Sauron. This book, more than any other I have read, seems to have more of Tolkien in it. There are no Hobbits, but there are orc-like creatures, an important fellowship, a Sauron versus Gandalf finale, and any number of other similarities. The main character Graydon could easily stand in for Aragorn. One improvement that Merritt made over Tolkien is that he resisted cliche animal characterizations. Snakes and spiders are good, for example, though lizards not so much. This is a long novel, a combination of two that were serialized much earlier in Argosy Magazine. The second novel was called "The Snake Mother".
An explorer wanders deep into the Andes in search of gold, stumbling upon an ancient race of white people. There are Indians, too, but the whites have been there since before the mountains rose up. While their science has made great advances, their morals haven't kept pace. Sound familiar. In this passage, the Snake Woman (a Gandalf-like character) talks to Graydon after he has described outside civilization to her. "I am not so enamored with your civilization, as you describe it, to wish it extended here. For one thing, I think you are building too rapidly outside yourselves, and too slowly inside." And again later... "Some day you will find yourselves so far buried within your machines that you will not be able to find a way out--or discover yourself being carried helplessly away by them." Wow! Heavy stuff for 1931 fantasy writing!
The adventures themselves are truly epic and vast in scale. The final battle rises to a fitting climax, with most tropes avoided. It probably won't spoil your reading if I tell you that Sauron is defeated in the end, and the ancient ones are given a second chance. So far this is the most enjoyable work by Merritt that I have read, and is recommended for fans of Edgar Rice Burroughs, H. Rider Haggard, and Tolkien.
Note: There will be no update for April books read next month. However, I will combine the April/May summaries in my next update around June 1st.
Mapman Mike
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