"Ma's Dead, Isn't She? You're Not Very Subtle Breaking the News . . ."

"The Copper Tea Strainer."

By John Q. Copeland (?-?).

First appearance: Liberty, October 2, 1937.

Adapted for the Suspense radio program, April 21, 1949 (YouTube HERE; run time 26 minutes 51 seconds).

Short short short short story (1 page).

Online at Archive.org (HERE).

   "He looked at the narrowed, calculating eyes, at the tight lines about the mouth revealed by the unretouched proof. Was there suggestion of selfish cruelty there, or was he doing some wishful thinking?"

MOST killers aspiring to a perfect murder have the perennial problem of diverting suspicion away from themselves, and that usually means framing somebody else for it. (The Columbo TV series used that as a standard plot device.) In today's story, a clever police detective must break an alibi, and in so doing he has to utilize yet another of Columbo's stratagems, stealthily laying a trap for the murderer . . .

Main characters:

~ Detective Rolph ("Who said anything about a tea strainer?"), Irwin ("the commercial photographer for whom Jeanie Dune posed"), Jeanie Dune ("I didn't kill my mother!"), 

and Ted Wark ("There isn't anything he'd do wrong. Nothing. He's square").

References:

- "in some babe like Garbo" (Wikipedia HERE) "or Dietrich" (Wikipedia HERE).

Resources:

- In the Suspense radio program (about which HERE) version, the story is told from a different point of view, being narrated by Betty Grable (1916-73; Wikipedia HERE).

- Virtually nothing is known about our author. Find a Grave has a sparse entry for a John Q. Copeland (1911-80) (HERE).

  FictionMags lists only two contributions:

   "The Copper Tea Strainer," (vignette) Liberty, October 2, 1937 (above)

   "When It’s Twilight on the Trail," (article) Dude, February 1965.

The bottom line:

Unless otherwise noted, all bibliographical data are derived from The FictionMags Index created by William G. Contento & edited by Phil Stephensen-Payne.

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"Two Different Worlds, We Live in Two Different Worlds"

"The Other Now."

By Murray Leinster (Will F. Jenkins, 1896-1975; Wikipedia HERE; the ISFDb HERE; the SFE HERE; and the IMDb HERE).

First appearance: Galaxy, March 1951.

Illustration by Bard (?-?).

Reprints (many) page (ISFDb HERE).

Among the reprints:

  Galaxy Reader of Science Fiction, 1952.

  Twists in Time, 1960.

  One Hundred Years of Science Fiction, 1968.

  One Hundred Years of Science Fiction, 1972.

  As Time Goes By, 2015.

  Black Infinity Magazine #4, Spring 2019.

Short story (12 pages).

Online at SFFAudio (HERE).

   "They were separated only by the difference between what was and what might have been."

STRONG FEELINGS often move writers, especially poets and tunesmiths, to summon up extravagant notions; for examples: "I love you more than words can wield the matter/Dearer than eyesight, space and liberty" (Goneril) and "Ain't no mountain high, ain't no valley low/Ain't no river wide enough/If you need me call me, no matter where you are/No matter how far" (Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell). Nevertheless, it isn't every day you come across a story that literally—and we mean literally—knows no bounds, employing another extravagant notion, the perdurably popular concept of neverending love . . .

Principal characters:

~ Jimmy Patterson ("If Jimmy Patterson had told anybody but Haynes, calm men in white jackets would have taken him away for psychiatric treatment"), Haynes ("was his friend and reluctantly a lawyer"), and Jane ("It could have been me instead, or neither of us").

References:

- The title of today's post comes from a song by Al Frisch and Sid Wayne, published in 1956 (Wikipedia HERE).

- "a belief in a fourth dimension" (Wikipedia HERE).

- "Nobody except fatalists" (Wikipedia HERE).

- The technical term for communication with the dead is known as necromancy (Wikipedia HERE), and the place where that communication might occur could be considered a haunted house (Wikipedia HERE).

- "a saying about two people becoming one flesh":

  From the Bible: "And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?" (KJV HERE).

Resources:

- Evidently a lot of people have been thinking about parallel universes for a long time (Wikipedia HERE).

- Murray Leinster seems to have been a pioneer in SFnal multiverse fiction, so for him "The Other Now" wouldn't be breaking new ground:

  "One of the first science-fiction examples of a parallel universe is Murray Leinster's short story 'Sidewise in Time,' published in 1934. Although Leinster's story was not the first example of parallel universes, it is credited with popularizing the concept." (Wikipedia HERE).

  The significance of "Sidewise in Time" gets a thorough discussion (Wikipedia: WARNING! SPOILERS! HERE); the story itself is (HERE).

- For a sampling of the fictional permutations of the multiverse, go to TV Tropes (HERE and HERE and a lot of other places there).

- Other multiverse yarns that we've perused include Ray Wood's "Schrödinger’s Gun" (HERE), Sam Merwin's "Third Alternative" (HERE), J. W. Armstrong's "Reversal of Misfortune" (HERE), Dwight V. Swain's "So Many Worlds Away . . ." (HERE), and John Russell Fearn's "The Copper Bullet" (HERE).

- Our latest contact with Murray Leinster was his crime fictional "Transfusion" (HERE).

The bottom line:

Unless otherwise noted, all bibliographical data are derived from The FictionMags Index created by William G. Contento & edited by Phil Stephensen-Payne.

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"In the McGee Books, All of the Nomenclature Is Always Correct"

THIS one is for hardcore John D. MacDonald fans (and boating enthusiasts):

"Travis McGee, Boatman."

By Martin Luray (?-?).

First appearance: Rudder, August 1975.

Article (3 pages).

Online at Archive.org starting (HERE) and finishing (HERE).

   "He has a fine eye for good lines—appreciative of beautiful vessels as well as the lovely soul-damaged women that recuperate from time to time aboard The Busted Flush as it voyages to the Keys or the Bahamas."

TARZAN might have had jungle vines (and the occasional elephant), The Lone Ranger might have had faithful Silver, and The Caped Cruiser might have had the Batmobile, but only Travis McGee had The Busted Flush . . .

Reference:

- About McGee's boat Wikipedia tells us:

  "Travis McGee lives on a 52-foot houseboat dubbed The Busted Flush. The boat is named after the circumstances in which he won the boat in what McGee describes as a 'poker siege' of 30 hours of intensive effort in Palm Beach—the run of luck started with a bluff of four hearts (2-3-7-10) and a club (2), which created a 'busted flush,' as described in Chapter 3 of The Deep Blue Good-by. The books are all narrated by McGee, writing in the first-person past-tense. The boat is generally docked at slip F-18 at Bahia Mar Marina, Fort Lauderdale, Florida. A self-described 'beach bum' who 'takes his retirement in installments,' McGee prefers to take on new cases only when the spare cash (besides a reserve fund) in a hidden safe in the Flush runs low."

Resources:

- There's ample information about Travis McGee (HERE).

- Martin Luray evidently preferred nonfiction, since the only FictionMags entry for him involves a true World War II event, "The Daring Daylight Raid on Germany's Mile-High Fortress."

- John D. MacDonald was primarily a novelist, but we have encountered some of his shorter crime fiction over the years (HERE), (HERE), (HERE), and (HERE).

- However, MacDonald's shorter crime related work that we haven't encountered yet includes:

  "Bright Orange Shroud," (novella) Cosmopolitan, April 1965

  "Darker Than Amber," (novella) Cosmopolitan, April 1966

  "The Dreadful Lemon Sky," (novella) 1974

  "Terminal Cases," (nonfiction vignette) New York [Magazine], October 3, 1977.

The bottom line:

Unless otherwise noted, all bibliographical data are derived from The FictionMags Index created by William G. Contento & edited by Phil Stephensen-Payne.

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Miscellaneous Monday—Number Forty-one

A Day Late and a Dollar Short Edition

"Time Travelling with Jack the Ripper on Page and Screen."

By Lucyna Krawczyk-Żywko, University of Warsaw.

First appearance: Anglica, An International Journal of English Studies, 2017.

Essay (15 pages).

Online at Academia.edu (HERE).

   "Jack the Ripper endures attempts at overwriting and remains a legendary killer . . ."

THERE have been many serial killers who've left their bloody stains on the fabric of history but none of them have achieved the enduring notoriety of Jack the Ripper. That popularity could be explained by the fact that the Ripper case has never been officially solved, and it seems to be a universal human trait that where there's a mystery there will always be interest. Given today's literary culture, it's no real surprise that Jolly Jack would reemerge from time to time not just in crime and horror fiction but also in fantasy and science fiction . . .

Note: Be aware that today's article contains SPOILERS throughout. You have been warned.

Typo: "to infinitely wonder through time".

Abstract:

  The article discusses time-travelling Jack the Ripper narratives, the majority being short stories and episodes of TV series. Despite their different temporal foci – late-Victorian past, present, distant future – the texts revolve around four ways of depicting the mysterious murderer: as a timeless force, a killer who uses time travel to escape, a killer whose deeds are to be prevented, and, last but not least, a tool in the hands of future generations. They also indicate that creators and consumers of popular culture are not interested in discovering the Ripper’s identity as much as want to follow him through centuries.

Excerpt:

  Out of the time travelling trend of Ripperana, present in genres as varied as adventure, crime, comedy, drama, fantasy, horror, mystery, thriller, romance, and science fiction, emerge a few dominant ways of depicting Jack the Ripper: 1) a timeless force, with no beginning and usually no end, existing alongside humanity; 2) a fleeing killer, who manages to escape his Victorian pursuers into the future; 3) a killer to be beaten, with time travel used as the means of preventing him from committing the murders; and 4) a useful tool in the hands of future generations. What is interesting in these works is that not only hardly ever is he caught and punished for his deeds, but also that his gory legacy seems to be protected and preserved. Their creators and, by extension, the audiences are not really interested in catching the Ripper, but in chasing him.

Referenced works in the article (all having SPOILERS in the links):

1. A Timeless Force

- "Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper" (HERE).

- Thriller episode "Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper" (HERE).

- Kolchak: The Night Stalker episode “The Ripper” (HERE).

- Star Trek episode "Wolf in the Fold" (HERE).

- Outer Limits episode "Ripper" (HERE).

- The Sixth Sense episode “With Affection, Jack the Ripper” (HERE).

2. A Fleeing Killer

- Fantasy Island episode “With Affection, Jack the Ripper/Gigolo” (HERE).

- Time After Time (HERE).

- Jaclyn the Ripper (HERE).

3. A Killer to Be Beaten

- The Map of Time (HERE).

- Timecop episode "A Rip in Time" (HERE).

- Doctor Who comic "Ripper's Curse" (HERE).

4. A Useful Tool

- Babylon 5 episode "Comes the Inquisitor" (HERE).

- "A Toy for Juliette" (HERE).

- “The Prowler in the City at the Edge of the World” (HERE).

5. The Chase Through Time.

Resources:

- Wikipedia has informational articles about Jack the Ripper, one of which is (HERE).

- Our latest encounter with Jolly Jack was Punch's contemporary jab at what they regarded as the authorities' mishandling of the Whitechapel murders (HERE).

- Today's author hasn't overlooked "Wolf in the Fold," Robert Bloch's science fictional updating for the Star Trek TV series (HERE).

The bottom line:

Unless otherwise noted, all bibliographical data are derived from The FictionMags Index created by William G. Contento & edited by Phil Stephensen-Payne.

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"You Won’t Be Murdered. You’ll Be Executed."

TODAY'S intense offering was published just over a hundred years ago; with slight alterations (language mainly) it would have been ideal for Alfred Hitchcock's half-hour TV series in the '50s. Follow the progress of a killer with a perfect murder in mind as he makes his crime . . .

"Fool Proof."

By Luke Thomas (1894?-1949).

Illustrated by Mori (Roger Burton Morrison, 1874-1945; HERE).

First appearance: Argosy All-Story Weekly, July 19, 1924.

Short short story (6 pages).

Online at Archive.org (HERE).

(Note: Faded text.)

(Parental note: Mild profanity.)

   "There’ll be no mysterious clews, no finger prints or third degrees or alibis when I’m through with you."

IT'S a perfect set-up, making this murder look like a suicide, "a lead-pipe cinch," as they used to say. Now, if only the victim will cooperate . . .

Main characters:

- Walter Lathrop ("You’re a swine and a skunk and a yellow pup"), Jack Freyne ("That gun is certainly a help to your vocabulary"), Jean Avery ("If I could only see him for a minute I wouldn’t make a scene"), Cary Lee ("The trouble is with these nuts that plan all the fancy crimes, once their minds get running crooked, they never can think straight"), and Detective Lannen ("You're under arrest, so—let's go").

References:

- "this Grand Guignol stuff" (HERE).

- "I spent three years in France" (HERE).

- "full of hop" (HERE).

- "oakum that ship-builders use" (HERE).

- "on the L" (HERE).

- "He does crossword puzzles":

  We noted another cruciverbalist who had his moment in the sun solving a murder (HERE).

Resource:

- Here's FictionMags's thumbnail about our author: "Playwright and short story writer. Died in Queens, New York."

The bottom line:

Unless otherwise noted, all bibliographical data are derived from The FictionMags Index created by William G. Contento & edited by Phil Stephensen-Payne.

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High Moon

THE natural affinity that horse operas and space operas have for each other has often been remarked upon, almost always with derision, yet the similarities in both almost guarantee some sort of comparison. With that in mind, let's go over the top with . . .

"The Sheriff of Thorium Gulch."

By Miles J. Breuer (1889-1945; Wikipedia HERE; the ISFDb HERE; the SFE HERE; Mathematical Fiction HERE; SFFAudio HERE; and the RGL bibliography HERE).

First appearance: Amazing Stories, August 1942.

Reprints page (ISFDb HERE).

Novelette (32 text pages as a PDF).

Online at Roy Glashan's Library (HERE).

   "There'll be ol' Billie Hell poppin' in Thorium Gulch tonight!"

WHERE can you go after you've hit rock bottom? Most of us would say Up, but for a smart young engineer it's Out—out on the untamed frontier of the Great Plains of Copernicus . . .

Principal characters:

~ Joe Jepson ("He did not know exactly to what to turn for a living. In fact, he cared little about living anyway. What in particular did he have to live for?"), Alice Dawson ("There wasn't any money"), Grandfather Jepson ("had had the vision of this vast Moon Empire"), Dead-Eye Ike ("toppled heavily to the pavement with blood welling from a hole that the stream of electrons from the cathode gun had bored clear through his chest"), Judge Hermsen ("Bless you, my children"), the County Clerk ("'Cordin' to law a person't ain't ben seen by nobody for seven years, is presumed to be dead!"), Wishbone Gus ("pitched backwards, clawing the air, with blood welling from the front and back openings of a hole straight through his chest"), Lefty Wagner ("I don't want to be sheriff nohow"), and the Hall brothers ("stalked sullenly away under the cover of a dozen levelled guns, muttering incoherent vengeance").

Note: This story, like several others that we've read, seems to confirm our suspicion that the farther out into space English speakers move the more their language badly deteriorates. Someone might want to notify NASA.

References:

- "the Serenity and Tranquility Seas".

  After eighty years, there's a lot more information available about the Moon than when our story was published:

  ~ The Sea of Serenity (HERE).

  ~ The Sea of Tranquility (HERE).

  ~ The Moon in general (HERE).

  ~ The Moon's geology in particular (HERE).

  ~ "the seas of treacherous pumice-sand" (HERE)

  ~ Thorium on the Moon (HERE), (HERE), (HERE), (HERE), and (HERE).

  ~ Copernicus crater (HERE) and (HERE).

  ~ The lunar Apennines (HERE).

  ~ The crater named Archimedes (HERE).

  ~ The colonization of the Moon (HERE) and getting around on it (HERE).

  ~ "He rented a caterpillar-cycle, the native vehicle of the Moon, upon which he was an expert rider. These machines have ten 24-inch wheels, each with independent drive and knee-support, and can climb up steep hills, over rocks, up and down rills, balance on rays and ridges, progress axle-deep in dust and mud." (Atomic Rockets HERE).

- "Cyrano de Bergerac's Moon Balloon propelled by swans" (HERE).

- "chiseling yttrium" (HERE).

Resources:

- In several respects our story resembles a classic Western movie (WARNING! SPOILERS! HERE), which got an all-too-obvious updating thirty years later (WARNING! SPOILERS! HERE).

- "The Sheriff of Thorium Gulch" is just one example of a sub-sub-genre called the Space Western (HERE), which still struggles for respectability.

The bottom line:

Unless otherwise noted, all bibliographical data are derived from The FictionMags Index created by William G. Contento & edited by Phil Stephensen-Payne.

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"They Put Arsenic in His Meat and Stared Aghast To Watch Him Eat"

DOROTHY SAYERS had several series characters, but today's protagonist is a one-off, an ordinary guy who's gripped by an overwhelming . . .

"Suspicion."

By Dorothy L. Sayers (1893-1957; Wikipedia HERE; the ISFDb HERE; and the IMDb HERE).

First appearance: Mystery League, October 1933.

Reprints page (ISFDb HERE), of which there were many.

Short story (9 pages).

Online at SFFAudio (HERE) and Archive.org (HERE; faded text).

   "But there had been the cocoa. Mr. Dimthorpe. Marsh's test. Five grains of arsenic."

IT'S all too easy to overlook something that could be dangerous. In Mr. Mummery's case, it's right under his nose . . .

Principal characters:

~ Mr. Mummery ("It had all been a mad mistake then"), Mr. Brookes ("Those arsenic-maniacs. They're too damned careful of their own skins. Cunning as weasels, that's what they are"), Mrs. Andrews ("She looks harmless enough"), Mrs. Sutton ("She's a good cook, and a sweet, motherly old thing, too"), Ethel ("was lying snuggled under the eiderdown and looked very small and fragile in the big double-bed"), Dr. Griffiths ("Pigs and oranges together are extraordinarily bad for the liver"), Mrs. Welbeck ("chose to prattle about the Lincoln Poisoning Case"), and Mr. Dimthorpe ("There must be four or five grains of pure arsenic in that bottle").

Typo: "March's test".

References:

- "tucked up in a corner of the chesterfield" (HERE) and (HERE).

- "I used Marsh's test" (HERE).

Resources:

- The title of today's post is from "Terence, This Is Stupid Stuff" by A. E. Housman (HERE).

- Alfred Hitchcock might have been fond of today's title word since he used it in a movie adaptation instead of the original source material (WARNING! SPOILERS! Wikipedia HERE).

- Our latest meeting with Dorothy L. Sayers was her Montague Egg adventure, "Murder in the Morning" (HERE).

The bottom line:

Unless otherwise noted, all bibliographical data are derived from The FictionMags Index created by William G. Contento & edited by Phil Stephensen-Payne.

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