"Something Odd Is Happening in the International Arena, Little Things in Various Parts of the World"

WE aren't what you'd call an avid spy fiction reader, so the following post will be a rare one. Nevertheless, if you'd like a James Bondian adventure that goes pleasingly over the top, then you might enjoy . . .

"Skeleton Collector."

By Marcia Martin (ISFDB HERE and the SFE HERE).

Illustrated by Brent Anderson (born 1955; Wikipedia HERE; the ISFDB HERE; and Homepage HERE).

First appearance: Rigel Science Fiction, Summer 1983.

No known reprints.

Short short story (8 pages).

Online at Archive.org (HERE).

   "People act inexplicably; change their minds, do things opposed to their own beliefs, even turn traitor. And they won't explain why. Or if they do, the explanations are obviously false."

IS it really an unwritten law in the espionage industry that spies don't "terminate" each other? While we doubt it, Hans Bergenholm might be inclined to argue: "Sharp edges slashed his elbows and right thigh, then he was falling through the night. A booming sound and a scorching gale lifted him on a pillow of flame."

Main characters:

~ Señor Francisco Vega, Herr Hansen, Señor Sanchez, Señor Alcuaz, General de Corona, Bishop Hidalgo, Señorita Rivera, Idri Obomi, the Ambassador, Frau Bergman, Herr Doctor Hauptman, the blond salesman, Hans Bergenholm, Gunnar Einerson, Doctor Rasukarno, Mme. Lavelle Renault, Barbara Nakagawa, a large man, Paul Ramirez, and two thugs.

Typo: "noice-level".

References:

- "Gabon" (HERE; Wikipedia).

- "this sanctum sanctorum" (HERE; Wikipedia).

- "Odin knows" (HERE; Wikipedia).

- "the CIA" (HERE; Wikipedia).

- "terminated with extreme prejudice" (HERE; Wiktionary).

- "The Crown Colony" (HERE; Wikipedia).

- "the graves of HMS Repulse" (HERE; Wikipedia); "the Queen Elizabeth" (HERE; Wikipedia).

- "She was Eurasian" (HERE; Wiktionary).

- "Perry Rhodent [sic]-type equipment" (HERE; Wikipedia).

- "hailed a rickshaw" (HERE; Wikipedia).

- "This is another fine mess" (HERE - "Catchphrases"; Wikipedia).

- "had a bug in it" (HERE; Wikipedia).

- "Fairfax County" (HERE; Wikipedia).

- "his starlight visor" (HERE; Wikipedia).

- "rimmed by skunk cabbage" (HERE; Wikipedia).

- "a substantial Doberman" (HERE; Wikipedia).

- "the solar plexus" (HERE; Wikipedia).

- "Tau Ceti" (HERE and HERE; Wikipedia).

- "the speed of light limitation" (HERE; Wikipedia).

- "fusion power source" (HERE; Wikipedia).

- "amenable to extortion" (HERE; Wikipedia).

- "the long black Cad" (HERE; Wikipedia).

Resource:

- If you'd like to brush up on spies and spying, see the Wikipedia article (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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"Do You Think I'd Take Sandwiches to a Robbery?"

HERE we have two entirely different crime stories from the same author, the difference being in their tone as much as anything . . .

(1) "The Practically Perfect Crime."

By Morris Hershman (1926-2016; the ISFDB HERE and the SFE HERE).
First appearance: Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine, February 1964.

Short short story (8 pages).
Reprinted in Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine (U.K.) #105, July 1964.
Collected in Every Crime in the Book (1975).
Short short story (8 pages).
Online at The Luminist Archives (HERE; go to text page 63).

   "This is probably the first occasion in the whole history of crime, organized or free-lance, that a getaway car stops in mid-flight because one of the gang has to go to the bathroom."

THEY always say it's best to keep it in the family, but that has its limitations. Of all people, Marge would know . . .

Principal characters:
~ Tom, Marge, Candy and Junior, and two detectives.

Typo: "looking throughtful".

References:
- "stoolpigeons" (HERE; The Free Dictionary).
- "work as a bookkeeper" (HERE; Wikipedia).
- "a show-up line" (HERE; Wikipedia).
- "a thermos bottle" (HERE; Wikipedia).

(2) "Room-and-Board."

By Morris Hershman (1926-2016; the ISFDB HERE and the SFE HERE).

First appearance: Edgar Wallace Mystery Magazine, November 1965.

Reprinted in The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Magazine, September 1966.

Short short story (8 pages).
Online at The Luminist Archives (HERE; go to text page 114).

   "Being in this room is like solitary confinement for me. It's going to drive me bughouse if something doesn't happen soon. Do you want to have a nut on your hands?"

STONE WALLS might not make a prison, as Lovelace wrote, but there's more than one way to do hard time . . .

Principal characters:
~ Kane, Molly Fleming, and the cop.

References:
- "a Gay Nineties-type mirror" (HERE; Wikipedia).
- "solitary confinement" (HERE and HERE; Wikipedia).
- "some old rummy" (HERE and HERE; Wikipedia).
- "Hopscotch around town?" (HERE; Wikipedia).
- "a bug doctor" (HERE; Wikipedia).

Resources:
- If you'd like to examine all of the criminological theories that seek to explain why Kane does what he does in our story, see Wikipedia (HERE). Good luck.
- This is our first meeting with Morris Hershman.

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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"The Father of Science Fiction Art"

OVER the years we've decorated this weblog with noteworthy artwork by some of the best illustrators; one of our favorites would have to be . . .

"Frank R. Paul (1884-1963)."

(See Wikipedia HERE; the ISFDB HERE; the SFE HERE; and The Official Frank R. Paul Gallery starting HERE).

By David Saunders (born 1954).

First appearance: Illustration Magazine No. 54, 2016.

Article (26 pages; copiously illustrated and thoroughly researched).

Online at Archive.org (HERE).

   "As for me, Frank R. Paul romanced me with future architectures when I was eight, summoning me to cities lost in the Time Ahead until he landed me in shocks of joy, in the colored facades and high-rises of the Chicago World’s Fair."

Introduction:

  "Frank R. Paul has been praised as the father of science fiction art, and cited as an inspiration by Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, and Ray Bradbury. In 2009, he was posthumously awarded induction to the Science Fiction Hall of Fame. Several books have been published on his work, and yet little is known about the man behind the art. There is a mysterious duality in his work, which is at the same time both wildly inventive and meticulously executed. What kind of artist would dream up fantastic outer space creatures, and then proceed to capture their likeness in the clinically-precise style of a 19th century botanical rendering?"

References:

(Note: All links are to Wikipedia unless otherwise noted.)

- "inspired by the romantic Orientalism" (HERE) "of Eugene Delacroix (1798-1863)" (HERE).

- "the wealthy family of Clarence Hungerford Mackay (1874-1938)" (HERE).

- "Visiting guests to Harbor Hill included Nikola Tesla (1856-1943)" (HERE), "Guillermo [sic] Marconi (1874-1937)" (HERE), "and Thomas Edison (1847-1931)" (HERE).

- "celebrated newspaper artists, such as Charles Dana Gibson (1867-1944)" (HERE), "Richard Felton Outcault (1863-1928)" (HERE), "and Winsor McCay (1869-1934)" (HERE).

- "Hugo Gernsback (1884-1967)" (HERE).

- "the spectacular building" (HERE), "designed by Cass Gilbert (1859-1934)" (HERE).

- "the silent film comedian Charlie Chase" (HERE).

- "Analyzing Character" (online HERE) "by Katherine Blackford" (HERE).

- "one of the most influential early science fiction novels, Ralph 124C 41+ by Hugo Gernsback" (WARNING! SPOILERS! HERE; online HERE).

- "across from the glamorous Waldorf Hotel" (HERE).

- "the Empire State Building" (HERE).

- "called the George Washington Bridge" (HERE).

- "Hans Wesso (1894-1948)" (HERE), "Leo Morey (1899-1965)" (HERE; ISFDB), "and Howard V. Brown (1878-1945)" (HERE; ISFDB).

- "eight months before the infamous stock market crash" (HERE); "the Great Depression" (HERE).

- "Bernarr Macfadden" (HERE), "Harry Donenfeld" (HERE), "and Harold Hersey" (HERE).

- "the famous Johnson Wax Building" (HERE), "designed by Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959)" (HERE).

- "the 1939 NYC World's Fair" (HERE); "the trylon and perisphere" (HERE).

- "next to the young author, Ray Bradbury" (HERE).

- "The Mightiest Machine" (WARNING! SPOILERS! HERE; online HERE) "by John W. Campbell" (HERE), "and The Skylark of Space" (WARNING! SPOILERS! HERE; online HERE) "by E. E. Smith" (HERE).

- "fans, like Forrey J. Ackerman" (HERE).

Resources:

- We've encountered Frank R. Paul's artwork several times; see (HERE) for those postings (in reverse chronological order).

The bottom line:

Artwork by Rick Sternbach

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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"How Did а 19th-Century Detective Straight Out of Victorian London End Up Thwarting Nazi Plots іп 20th-Century World War II?"

IT'S a question that has puzzled us, as well. Perhaps we should redesignate our sleuth as . . .

"Sherlock Holmes, Time Traveler."

By David A. Norris (?-?).

Published in Stars in WW II, Fall 2015.

Article (6 pages).

Online at Archive.org (HERE).

   "Updating Holmes from a Victorian crime-solver into а WWII spy wasn’t much of a stretch. The great detective had always been a master of disguise, able to go undercover in any surroundings."

WHEN Universal Studios decided, basically as a money-saving move, to time travel Conan Doyle's supersleuth nearly half a century from his usual milieu, movie audiences didn't kick too much. At the time, World War II was on everybody's mind, and using Nazis as villains was then and has always been a Hollywood box office winner. (Do you mean that it never occurred to you that the Empire in Star Wars is a Third Reich clone?) As to whether or not these were good films, we'll let you decide . . .

A couple of excerpts:

  "Along with the 1940s setting and Axis villains came other changes. Watson was substantially different. In the books, he is an intelligent man who, like the readers, is amazed at Holmes’s powers of deduction. The new Watson, however, was a rather silly and sometimes childish comic sidekick. Meanwhile, less surprisingly, Holmes's arch nemesis Professor Moriarty joined up with the Nazis in Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon."

  "After three war-based Sherlock Holmes movies, Universal downplayed the conflict in its remaining series entries. Studios were realizing that audiences had had enough of the war and were going to the movies to escape from it."

References:

- "Basil Rathbone as Holmes" (HERE; Wikipedia) "and Nigel Bruce as Watson" (HERE; Wikipedia).

- "fifth columnists" (HERE; Wikipedia).

- "the real Norden Bombsight" (HERE; Wikipedia).

- "known as the Blitz" (HERE; Wikipedia).

- "Flash Gordon" (HERE; Wikipedia).

- "Those Brooklyn fellows" (HERE; Wikipedia).

- "the Quebec Conference involving Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Canadian Prime Minister Mackenzie King" (HERE; Wikipedia).

- "the loose association of street urchins who were his allies: the Baker Street Irregulars" (HERE; Wikipedia).

Resources:

- Wikipedia has plenty of info about these movies (WARNING! SPOILERS! HERE, with links to each film).

- Our latest collision with Sherlock Holmes was an 1893 "interview" with him (HERE).

- Manly Wade Wellman also thought it appropriate to update Holmes for the war effort with "But Our Hero Was Not Dead" (HERE); he did it again when Martians had the cheek to invade Dear Olde Albion.

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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“The Body Cooled, There Was No Brain-wave Activity, the Creature Was Dead. Now It Is Not Dead.”

WE have little doubt that Father Brown wouldn't have objected to taking a rocket into space if it meant saving a soul and/or solving a crime. In today's tale, another priest rather similar to Chesterton's doughty cleric does that very thing, just in time for him to solve . . .

"The Lazarus Murder."

By Michael A. Stackpole (born 1957; Wikipedia HERE; the ISFDB HERE; and the SFE HERE).

First appearance: Amazing Stories, Summer 2000.

Purgatory Station Number 1 (ISFDB HERE).

Reprints page (ISFDB HERE).

Illustrated by Rob Day (Wikipedia HERE and the ISFDB HERE).

Short story (10 pages).

Online at Archive.org (HERE).

   “Greed—one of the Seven Deadly Sins,” said Flynn.

   Meresin glanced at the priest. "One of the Nine Minor Pleasures, you mean."

   Flynn smiled. “Either way, I'm thinking it's the core of this situation."

HOW often, we wonder, does getting to the bottom of a crime on Earth require a deep dive into a victim's reproductive cycle? Because that's what it will take for a smart Irish priest to solve a murder in space that almost everybody else is inclined to believe didn't actually happen . . .

Main characters:

~ Father Flynn, Clipp, Jok Harrison, Meresin, Doctor Kirong Keey, Laiurish Dayanne of Norp and Gylan, and Auran Ashke.

References:

- "the Last Rites" (HERE; Wikipedia).

- "Lazarus?" (HERE; Wikipedia); "look what they did to the one who managed that" (HERE; Wikipedia).

- "As they say, 'Out of the mouths of babes...'” (HERE; Wiktionary).

- "God made Heaven and Earth in six days" (HERE; Wikipedia).

- "Every faith that believes in reincarnation" (HERE; Wikipedia).

- "the Seven Deadly Sins" (HERE; Wikipedia).

- "Being the devil’s advocate?" (HERE; Wikipedia).

- "The coroner’s court inquiry" (HERE and HERE; Wikipedia).

Resources:

- Our story is part of Michael A. Stackpole's Purgatory Station series:

  "The Lazarus Murder" (2000) (above)

  "Keeping Score" (2000)

  "Least of My Brethren" (2002)

  "Serpent on the Station" (2004)

  "According to Their Need" (2004).

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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"It Was All So Sudden That Both Men Were Frozen in a Position of Instant Immobility."

(1) "Great Night for a Murder."

By Michael Avallone (1924-99; Wikipedia HERE; The Thrilling Detective HERE; the ISFDB HERE; and the SFE HERE).

First appearance: Shell Scott Mystery Magazine, September 1966.

Short short short story (2 pages).

Online at Archive.org (HERE).

   "The man waiting for him in the darkness was patient."

THEY say there's a time and a place for everything, but, as our killer will discover to his dismay, not this time, not this place . . .

Principal characters:

~ Wilstock, Colin Browne, the seaman, and Mary (in absentia).

Resource:

- "He could sure tell a story. He couldn’t write, but he could sure tell a story." That was Bill Crider's assessment of Michael Avallone, and today's little story confirms Crider's viewpoint. See The Thrilling Detective website (HERE) about Avallone's incredible prolificity.

NOW let's go off-Earth—and run right into a . . .

(2) "Bee Sting."

By William Ballard (ISFDB HERE).

Illustration by Brad W. Foster (ISFDB HERE).

First appearance: Amazing Stories, May 1989.

Short short short story (3 pages).

Online at Archive.org (HERE).

   "Sister Cruikshank, your song is baleful indeed. Your kind have more cunning than we ephemerals could hoard. Let it be as you have sung: 

Abide with us."

EVEN in the far future, unless there's a radical change, the urge to run a con will probably still be with us . . .

Principal characters:

~ Cruikshank, the Translator, and the Hive-Mother.

References:

- "cephalothorax" (HERE; Wikipedia).

- "the Pseudo-Hymenopterans" (HERE and HERE; Wikipedia).

- "had neither FTL flight" (HERE and HERE; Wikipedia) "or hyperwave" (HERE; Wikipedia; HERE; Atomic Rockets).

- "throughout the Spiral Arm" (HERE; Wikipedia).

- "this Imago sings" (HERE; Wikipedia).

Resource:

- We recently highlighted an entirely different kind of story that nevertheless employed the same figure of speech (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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"There Reflected Was the Remarkable Face of an Intellectual Cutthroat."

"Beyond Murder."

By Phil Richards (1904-88).

First appearance: Secret Agent X, November 1936.

Short short short story (3 pages).

Online at The Pulpgen Archive (HERE).

   "By the simple process of murdering Dr. Chappell and changing the title page on 'Swan Song,' the colossal work would become his."

OUR killer falls asleep "with the assurance that he’d fathered a perfect crime." When will they ever learn?

Main characters:

~ Stanley Henshaw ("I’ll make half a million dollars out of it alone"), Dr. Chappell ("I have a  premonition that shortly the inexorable surge that is life will force me out—for a fresh, unbattered casing to carry forth its mystery"), Chief Lambert ("You trying to make a murder case outa this?"), and Nick Forbes ("He’s guilty as hell!").

Typo: "Handsaw’s wrists".

References:

- "the Mephistophelian cast of his refined and sensitive countenance" (HERE; Wikipedia).

- "the financial success of 'Anthony Adverse'" (HERE and HERE; Wikipedia).

- "Alexander Dumas" (HERE; Wikipedia).

- "marry into the Social Register" (HERE; Wikipedia).

- "He looked like a very, very tired Longfellow" (HERE; Wikipedia).

- "into a catnap" (HERE; Wikipedia).

- "forcing carbon monoxide fumes into the lungs" (HERE; Wikipedia).

- "the Nobel Prize for literature—another fifty grand" (HERE; Wikipedia). By the way, the 1936 Nobel for Lit went to Eugene O'Neill (HERE; Wikipedia). Fifty grand in 1936 is worth $1,201,143.88 today (HERE; CPI Inflation Calculator).

- "Rigor mortis—the stiffening of the body after death—held the corpse rigid" (HERE; Wikipedia).

- "the four thousand volts of the electric chair" (HERE; Wikipedia).

- "the tannin precipitation test" (HERE; Wikipedia).

Resources:

- Phil(ip) MacLeod Richards was among that distinguished coterie of uberpulpsters, writers who could get published in almost any genre.

- Television bad guys have been known to do what our killer does here, take credit for something they didn't create and eliminate the creator. Two Columbo episodes, for examples, come to mind: "Murder by the Book" (WARNING! SPOILERS! HERE; The Columbophile Blog) and "Murder with Too Many Notes" (WARNING! SPOILERS! HERE; The Columbophile Blog), but these definitely aren't the only ones you'll probably come across in your TV viewing.

- Poison often shows up in detectfic. Here's a short list:

  Lee Sullivan Berry's nonfictional "Forensic Chemistry in Golden-Age Detective Fiction: Dorothy L. Sayers and the CSI Effect" (HERE).

  Max Afford's "Poison Can Be Puzzling" (HERE; first story).

  Bernard Capes's "The Poison Bottle" (HERE).

  F. L. Nelson's "The Seven Tortoise-Shell Cats" (HERE).

  H. G. Wells's "The Thumbmark" (HERE).

  Steve Fisher's "If Christmas Comes" (HERE).

  and Fredric Brown's "The Hobbyist" (HERE; first 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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