"You're Beyond the Stage for Omens, You're Now Headed in for the Kill, Yours or His"

IT was an American, Ray Bradbury, who kickstarted the idea of hunting dinosaurs before they turned into fossils, a sport that can, as his story demonstrates, have dire results. Brian Aldiss, an Englishman, turned to the same theme six years after Bradbury in a story that could be thought of as Claude Ford meets Francis Macomber, with the appropriate title of . . .

"Poor Little Warrior!"

By Brian W. Aldiss (1925-2017; Wikipedia HERE; the ISFDB HERE; the SFE HERE; and the IMDb HERE).

First appearance: The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, April 1958.

Reprints page (ISFDB HERE).

Short short short story (6 pages).

Online at SFFaudio (HERE) and Baen Books (HERE).

   "OK, you keep saying to yourself insanely over and over, your million-dollar twenty-second-century education going for nothing, OK, OK."

TWO of the universal themes of literature that they try to teach you in college is MAN vs. NATURE—you know, humankind's struggle just to survive in what can be a hostile world—and MAN vs. MAN, usually resulting in hatred and war stemming from any or all of humanity's failings. At first glance, today's story seems to fit into the first category, but if you think about it, you might agree with us that it rests on yet another universal literary theme, MAN vs. HIMSELF . . .

Principal characters:

~ Claude Ford, Maude, and various flora and fauna.

Typo: "woiild sink".

References:

- "meets Francis Macomber" (HERE; WARNING! SPOILERS! Wikipedia).

- "to hunt a brontosaurus" (HERE; Wikipedia).

- "the work of Mother Nature" (HERE; Wikipedia).

- ".65 self-loading, semi-automatic, dual-barrelled, digitally-computed, telescopically-sighted, rustless, high-powered rifle": That would make the bullet larger than the biggest standard machine gun round today (HERE; Wikipedia).

- "the ventricle" (HERE; Wikipedia) "keeps miraculous time with the auricle" (HERE; Wikipedia).

- "Time for listening to the oracle is past" (HERE; Wikipedia.)

- "this bloody little urge to slay the dragon" (HERE; Wikipedia).

- "the whole indifferent Jurassic world" (HERE; Wikipedia).

- "a couple of hayricks-full" (HERE; Wikipedia).

- "to unbecalm the Ancient Mariner" (HERE; Wikipedia).

- "a saga, sagacious, Beowulfate" (HERE; Wikipedia).

- "to wave the Woolworth Building" (HERE; Wikipedia) "at a tarsier" (HERE; Wikipedia).

- "to shoot giant saurians" (HERE; Wikipedia).

- "the dum-dums" (HERE; Wikipedia), "big as paw-paws" (HERE; Wikipedia).

- "closed till Judgment Day" (HERE; Wikipedia).

- "a creepy Secondary Era slowness" (HERE; Wikipedia).

- "the sedimentary rocks" (HERE; Wikipedia).

- "in a tomb finer than any Indian rajah ever boasted" (HERE; Wikipedia).

- "in a brow of the Rockies" (HERE; Wikipedia).

- "the contraterrene caverns" (HERE; Wikipedia).

- "fumblingly fearful id" (HERE; Wikipedia).

- "all hope abandon, ye who entrail here": A parody of Dante's inscription over the gate to Hell (HERE; Wikipedia).

Resources:

- Ray Bradbury's story about dino hunting is "A Sound of Thunder" (Collier's, June 28, 1952; online at Lecturia HERE).

- Brutus Lloyd has an encounter with dinosaurs in Thorton Ayre's "The Case of the Mesozoic Monsters" (HERE; second story).

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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OLD-TIME DETECTION, Summer 2026

(Give Me That) OLD-TIME DETECTION (OTD). Summer 2026. Issue #72. Editor: Arthur Vidro. Old-Time Detection Special Interest Group of American Mensa, Ltd. 34 pages (including covers).

  ARTHUR VIDRO is clearly on a roll, generating a readable and entertaining compendium of mystery lore every time.

  In this issue: Two hardboileds get their due notice - Agatha gets dissed - Meanwhile, Carolyn Wells gets overlooked - In contrast, Sir Arthur receives the royal treatment - We have a plenitude of paperbacks to choose from - There was more to Moriarty than Conan Doyle told us - Indeed, there was a lot more to one of JDC's novels than most of us realize - Not all puns are atrocious; some can even help solve a crime - And getting tuckerized just might make your day.

  Being an established crimefic author himself, Martin Edwards is more than qualified to give us his take on Dashiell Hammett's THE DAIN CURSE (1929): "His execution of the concept is artistically flawed . . ."

  While we're dealing with hardboiled detectives, let's hear what Lawrence Block has to say about Philip Marlowe's creator in "Raymond Chandler.": "He decided to write his way out of it."

  Dr. John Curran's "Christie Corner" illuminates the dark side of the "re-imagining" craze that, when all is said and done, results in trashing the original sources (our list: STAR TREK and even THE ODYSSEY; Curran provides his own listing). He produces a quotable quote near the end of the article: "Poirot never walked around his apartment barefoot; Miss Marple never climbed onto a barstool and ordered a whiskey; Tommy and Tuppence never worked alongside Jane Marple. We have re-imagining to thank for these aberrations."

  Michael Dirda considers a literary puzzle involving the virtual disappearance of a once-popular mystery novelist in his review of THE VANISHING OF CAROLYN WELLS: INVESTIGATIONS INTO A FORGOTTEN MYSTERY AUTHOR (2024) by Rebecca Rego Barry: 

". . . Wells seems to have settled happily into writing formulaic country-house whodunits."

  The first fiction piece in this issue is "The Adventure of the Clothes-Line," when the aforementioned Carolyn Wells decided to have fun with Sherlock Holmes and the plethora of copycat sleuths that were prevalent at the time (1915). If you've never read it, here's your chance.: "A reward is offered for the solution of a great mystery - so great, my colleagues, that I fear none of you will be able to solve it . . ."

  J. Randolph Cox makes a huge contribution to Sherlockian scholarship (and literature in general) with his biobibliographical article, "Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.": "Conan Doyle had no intention of writing more than those first six Holmes stories."

  Charles Shibuk continues to chronicle the efflorescence of paperback reprints of classic mysteries as well as new ones, from fifty (yes, fifty!) years ago. Featured authors: John Dickson Carr, Agatha Christie, Dick Francis, P. D. James, Peter Lovesey, Arthur Lyons, John D. MacDonald, Ngaio Marsh, Douglas Rutherford, and Rex Stout ("This is one more example of Stout's pre-World War II mastery of the classic detective novel"). Then come Adrian Conan Doyle along with John Dickson Carr and John Gardner.

  John Gardner, by the way, successfully spun stories off the original Sherlock Holmes canon, earning him not just money but also an interview with EQMM, which is reproduced here: 

". . . it was obvious there was only one thing James Moriarty could be: he must have been the Victorian Godfather."

  Even if you're not a JDC fan, Dan Napolitano's well-researched "Carr's THE BURNING COURT: Inception and Influences" is nevertheless noteworthy: "THE BURNING COURT is worth reflection, and indeed, worth revisiting."

  If you're fond of puns, then you'll probably enjoy the second piece of fiction in today's issue, Jon L. Breen's "The Pun Detector and the Danny Boy Killer." (And if you're not fond of puns, what can we say?): "I advise you to investigate every plumber in the city." (This was Breen's third, and latest, Pun Detector story; the first one is dealt with at the ONTOS weblog HERE.)

  Art Scott recalls how on one occasion he got "Tuckerized by Ed Hoch." Have you been tuckerized lately? It's not really that bad.

  Judging from the letters column, it's obvious that OTD readers are pleased with Arthur's efforts.

  This issue's puzzle is just that, a real puzzler. We'll say no more.

  But we will say a little more about how this issue proves that OTD is well-worth the subscription price. Speaking of which . . .

   – Published three times a year: Spring, summer, and autumn. – Sample copy: $7.00 in U.S.; $12.00 anywhere else. – Subscription rates:  One-year U.S.: $20.00.; one-year overseas: $45.00 (33 pounds sterling or 38 euros). – Payment: Checks payable to Arthur Vidro, or cash from any nation, or U.S. postage stamps or PayPal. Mailing address:

   Arthur Vidro, editor

   Old-Time Detection

   2 Ellery Street

   Claremont, New Hampshire 03743

   Web address: vidro@myfairpoint.net

Resource:

- The Spring 2026 issue of OTD got reviewed at Mystery*File (HERE).

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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"A Criminal Cured Is a Citizen Saved."

"Public Enemy."

(Click on image to enlarge.)

By Kendell Foster Crossen (1910-81; Wikipedia HERE; the ISFDb HERE; and the SFE HERE).

First appearance: Dynamic Science Fiction, December 1952.

Reprinted in Future Science Fiction Stories, Number 10, 1953.

Short short short story (6 pages as a PDF).

Online at Project Gutenberg (HERE).

   "For what seemed like several long minutes the two men stared at each other, while the encephalscope fairly purred."

WILL psychology ever be victorious over the criminal mind? Today's story attempts to show us how that might turn out . . .

Main characters:

~ Public Police Officer Brad Raynor ("Secretly, he was amused at himself. No one was prouder than Brad Raynor of the progress made by the middle of the 32nd Century, while all of his training had been directed toward increasing that progress"), the Assignment Officer ("under any circumstances, bring this man in alive"), the Public Justice Administrator ("We have already discovered a number of other citizens who have become slightly unstable because of feeling that they are in a hostile environment"), Jan Laird ("Then, slowly, reluctantly, the fingers spread and the gun dropped to the floor"), Will Howard ("As a result of the unemployment, Will Howard committed robbery and in leaving the premises shot and killed a public officer"), and Public Officer Arthur Sommers (deceased).

References:

- "Public Enemy" (HERE; Wikipedia).

- "one of the suburbs lying north of Nyork": Three guesses as to what city this is (HERE; Wikipedia).

- "His three degrees—one in psychology" (HERE), "one in sociology" (HERE), "one in criminalistics" (HERE) (all in Wikipedia).

- "A speeding air-car" (HERE; Wikipedia).

- "which included his brain-wave pattern and a chemical analysis" (HERE; Wikipedia); "the fugitive’s brain-wave pattern into the encephalscope" (HERE; Wikipedia).

- "The Public Police Administration was not formed to preside at the execution of citizens." That's nice, but another view of the future takes a different attitude from Crossen's (WARNING! SPOILERS! HERE and HERE; Wikipedia).

- "the cybernetic control": Essentially an autopilot (HERE; Wikipedia).

- "projecting a tractor beam" (HERE; Wikipedia).

- "began broadcasting supersonic waves" (HERE; Wikipedia).

- "he began nosing it to the side and down": A futuristic version of (THIS; Wikipedia).

- "He pulled an electronic pick from his pocket" (HERE and HERE; Wikipedia).

- "the nerve-gun concealed in his hand" (HERE; Wikipedia).

Resources:

- Speaking of cerebrums, you might consult Ron Goulart's "The President's Brain Is Missing" (HERE).

- Our only other meeting with Kendell Foster Crossen was his locked-room tale "The Closed Door" (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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Two from Levinson and Link

MOST of you may know Richard Levinson and William Link from their names appearing on high-quality TV mystery series like Columbo and Murder, She Wrote; on just five occasions, however, our authors did 

publish under a different byline, an amalgamation of their two middle 

names (see second story below). 

OUR first story, though, features the two collaborators using their real names and their inside knowledge of television production to tell the 

tale of a man troubled by an ominous dream that inexplicably seems 

to follow a . . .

(1) "Shooting Script."

By Richard Levinson (1934-87; Wikipedia HERE; the ISFDB HERE; and the IMDb HERE) and William Link (1933-2020; Wikipedia HERE; the ISFDB HERE; and the IMDb HERE). Both summarized in Wikipedia (HERE).

First appearance: Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, April 1959.

Reprints:

  Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Sampler Fall 1959 (var.3)

 Suspense (Australia), December 1960

 Suspense (U.K.), December 1960

  Shooting Script and Other Mysteries, 2021.

Short short story (9 pages).

Online at Archive.org (HERE).

   "He sat down in a chair and let the gun drop to the rug. Then he waited patiently for the darkness."

MOST people consider eavesdropping merely as bad manners, but on very rare occasions it can be deadly . . .

Principal characters:

~ The man, the woman, Al Standish, Carol, Red Holliday, Earl Babitz, Lederer, Rowe, the female vocalist, the harmonica player, and Merrick (offstage). 

References:

- "knowledge of television production" (HERE; Wikipedia and HERE; howstuffworks).

- "bright, burning kleigs" (HERE; Wikipedia) "and small baby spots" (HERE; Wikipedia).

- "KCAB" (HERE; Wikipedia).

- "the mike boom" (HERE; Wikipedia).

THE next story more than adequately explains why . . .

(2) "Suddenly, There Was Mrs. Kemp."

By Ted Leighton (Richard Levinson and William Link).

First appearance: Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, April 1959.

Reprints:

  Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Sampler, Fall 1959 (var.3)

  Suspense (Australia), January 1961

  Suspense (U.K.), January 1961

  Shooting Script and Other Mysteries, 2021.

Short short short story (6 pages).

Online at Archive.org (HERE).

   "You'd be surprised what I see from my window. Really."

The song warns us: "Never smile at a crocodile." Excellent advice for this particular blackmailer . . .

Principal characters:

~ Walt Hannis, Rose (deceased), Mrs. Kemp, Billy (feathered), and the district attorney's secretary.

Comment: The basic premise of this story is very reminiscent of a major subplot complication for the killer in the first regular season Columbo episode (WARNING! SPOILERS! HERE; IMDb).

Typo: "siad Hannis".

Resources:

- As per FictionMags, here are the Ted Leighton stories (ss = short story; ar = article):

  "Suddenly, There Was Mrs. Kemp," (ss) Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, April 1959 (above)

  "The Hundred-Dollar Bird’s Nest," (ss) Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, August 1959

  "Memory Game," (ss) Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, September 1959

  "Teddy Wilson," (ar) Escapade, March 1968

  "Moondog: Guru Unto Himself," (ar) Escapade, May 1968.

- We've communed with Levinson and Link (or Link flying solo) on several previous occasions: (HERE), (HERE, with a related off-site article HERE), (HERE), and (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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"I Will Tell You in Simple Straightforward Fashion How I Solved the Secret of the Flying Saucers."

"Case History."

By Nelson Bond (1908-2006; Wikipedia HERE; the ISFDb HERE; the SFE HERE; and the IMDb HERE, 27 credits).

First appearance: Fantastic Universe, April 1958.

Reprinted in The Far Side of Nowhere, 2002 (TOC HERE).

Short short short story (4 pages).

Online at SFFaudio (HERE).

   "I determined to make myself uniquely, inescapably, conspicuous."

THE solution is so simple that we wonder why no one else thought of it before this 

guy did . . .

Main characters:

~ The chief of staff, John Wilson, and the steeplejack.

References:

- "such objects had been sighted for over a hundred years" (HERE; Wikipedia).

- "Earth's most outstanding artificial landmark is the Empire State Building" (HERE; Wikipedia).

- "a cartoon character known as Superman" (HERE; Wikipedia).

- "my small stock of flares" (HERE; Wikipedia) "and Roman candles" (HERE; Wikipedia).

- "a professional steeplejack" (HERE; Wikipedia).

- "the star Aldebaran" (HERE; Wikipedia).

- "the planet Earth" (HERE; Wikipedia) "of the star Sol" (HERE and HERE; Wikipedia).

Resources:

- We've already met Nelson S. Bond on a previous occasion ten years ago: "Shall Stay These Couriers . . ." (HERE).

The bottom line:

"Get a grip, Margaret! Remember what the doctor said about your road rage."

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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"There Is a Wart Upon It."

TODAY'S story has a happy ending for just about everybody involved, which sounds great; however, you might find it disturbing that just about everyone who's in this thing doesn't really deserve it. In fact, they might deserve something else—like jail time . . .

"A Nose for the King."

By Jack London (John Griffith Chaney, 1876-1916; Wikipedia HERE; the ISFDb HERE; the SFE HERE; and the IMDb HERE, 188 credits).

First appearance: The Black Cat, March 1906.

Reprinted in When God Laughs and Other Stories, 1911 (online at Project Gutenberg HERE and Standard Ebooks HERE) . . .

and Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, April 2001 (today's text).

Illustrated by Hank Blaustein (born 1937; ISFDb HERE).

Short short short story (5-6 pages).

Online at SFFaudio: Original Black Cat version (HERE) and AHMM reprint (HERE).

   "There are robbers abroad in the land."

. . . but this particular criminal isn't abroad in the land. Instead, he's making a killing by selling the Korean equivalent of the Brooklyn Bridge . . .

Principal characters:

~ Yi Chin Ho, the jailer, the governor, the prime minister (maybe), Pak Chung Chang, and the king.

References:

- "the morning calm of Korea" (HERE; Wikipedia).

- "its ancient name Cho-sen" (HERE; Wikipedia).

- "From the Sacred City to the ends of all the Eight Coasts." Did London make these up?

- "to the shore of the Eastern Sea" (HERE; Wikipedia).

- "I too know filial piety and regard" (HERE; Wikipedia).

- "selling the Korean equivalent of the Brooklyn Bridge" (HERE; Wikipedia).

Resources:

- James Powell recognized the importance of noses (HERE).

- The resolution of a 1973 motion picture's plot hinged on a nose (WARNING! SPOILERS! Wikipedia 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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"From Their Beginnings a Close Affinity Has Existed Between Science Fiction and Detective Fiction. The Relationship Is Most Obvious in the Number of Writers Who Have Been Attracted to Both Fields."

"On Science Fiction Detective Stories."

By Jon L. Breen (born 1943; French Wikipedia HERE and the ISFDb HERE).

Article (10 pages).

First appearance: Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, June 1979.

Illustration by Alex Schomburg (1905-98; ISFDb HERE).

Online at Archive.org (HERE) and The Luminist Archives (HERE; go to text page 69).

(Note: Text faded but not badly.)

   "With the passing years, there is less and less emphasis on the rules of the game in genre fiction, generally to its benefit. But in the pure detective story, still a viable form, the most basic of these rules, involving fairness to the reader, continues to apply."

IF you've been reading this weblog for a while, then you've probably noticed what Jon L. Breen has also noticed, that many mystery writers are science fiction authors—and, furthermore, that some of them like to mash the two genres together. In this short essay, he surveys the scene as of circa 1979 and sees the trend continuing into the future—with the intervening forty-seven years of hindsight available to us proving him basically right.

Excerpts:

  "While the overlap of writers is great — and greater for example than the overlap, say, of Western writers with either field — there is reason to think that the overlap of readers is also considerable. Mystery fiction has not had an active 'fandom' until recent years (excepting the always-busy Sherlockians), and it is doubtful mystery fans will ever become as highly organized, sociable, and vocal as science fiction fans."

  "Why do detective and science fiction so often attract the same writers and readers? In their most basic forms, they both concern problem-solving and appeal to the reader’s intellect in a way that Westerns, adventure stories, and pure romances do not."

  "Creating a science-fictional setting is a tremendous challenge at any time — how do you do it without boring the reader and stopping the story cold on the one hand, or skimping on details and leaving unanswered questions on the other? Once a writer can perform this feat, throwing a few mystery clues into the pot should not be that difficult to do, though admittedly creating a fair-play mystery plot is no cinch either."

  "As one might imagine, the mysteries in an SF detective story are often on a grander scale than those in a mundane detective tale."

  "Though the question of the killer’s identity is often not one of the main factors in the plot of a crime story today, for many classical writers, fooling the reader on this point was a principal aspect of the game. . . But the science fiction writer can carry the whodunit one step further and pin the crime on murderers that were simply not available to Agatha Christie (and I don’t mean Martians)."

  "But there is one kind of mystery-SF hybrid that I as a reader am uncomfortable with: the story which starts as an apparently mundane mystery but comes up with a science fictional solution. It is very difficult not to leave the reader feeling cheated in such a process."

Typos: "The Lost Word"; "Feburary".

References:

- Too many to list. You're on your own.

Resources:

- Concerning the possibility of producing a genuine science fiction mystery, Isaac Asimov proved his editor was wrong; see (HERE) for his reasoning. You might also consult Robert Lowndes's "The Futuristic Detective" (HERE) and Sam Moskowitz's double take on the subject (HERE).

- Breen briefly discusses James P. Hogan's Inherit the Stars as a science fiction mystery; so does dfordoom, but at greater length, on The Vintage Pop Fictions website (HERE).

- Jon L. Breen exercises his parodic predilections with "The Pun Detective" (HERE) and his scholarship (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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