Tip the Wink

The Silver Waves of Summer, edited by David M. Olsen, Kelp Books 2021 short story anthology, mystery

The stories here are all set on or near the beach, as the title suggests. All but one is set in the late 1960s or the 1970s, and, since I grew up in southern California, I was able to recognize many places, named highways and so on, which added to the reading experience.

I bought this 99⊄ ebook on a whim. Of the eleven stories I’d rate nine fair and two stinkers.

Table of Contents:

• Introduction
• “In the Bank” by Antoine Wilson
• “Off the 405” by Naomi Hirahara
• “Summer of ’86” by Todd Goldberg
• “Mody’s Dock” by Steve Winn
• “The Naked and the Dead” by Charles Ardai
• “The Five Thieves of Bombay Beach” by Rob Roberge
• “Lighthouse Seen for Miles” by Michael Scott Moore
• “The Crossing” by Oliver Brennan
• “Bad Moon Rising” by David Olson
• “Sundays are for Robberies” by Samantha Tkac (particularly brutal)
• “Wasteland” by Alex Webb Wilson

republished from The Broken Bullhorn:

Multiverse: Exploring Poul Anderson’s Worlds edited by Greg Bear and Gardner Dozois [Subterranean Press 2014 hardcover, cover and illustrations by Bob Eggleton, purchased new] – science fiction.

Friends and regular readers of this blog know that Poul Anderson is one of my favorite science fiction writers. I have all of the fine NESFA collections of his short fiction and a copy of just about every novel he wrote. Not every one is great, but most are very good or excellent, and I’ve read some of my favorites several times. So when I saw Subterranean Press was publishing this, it was a mandatory addition to my shelves, and will have pride of place thereon.

Poul Anderson (1926-2001) was one of the seminal figures of 20th century science fiction. Named a Grand Master by the SFWA in 1997, he produced an enormous body of standalone novels (Brain Wave, Tau Zero) and series fiction (Time Patrol and Dominic Flandry books) and was equally at home in the fields of heroic fantasy and hard SF. He was a meticulous craftsman and a gifted storyteller, and the impact of his finest work continues, undiminished, to this day.

full cover by Bob Eggleton

Multiverse: Exploring Poul Anderson’s Worlds is an all-original anthology; a mixture of fiction and reminiscence. It contains thirteen stories and novellas by some of today’s finest writers, along with reflections by – among others – Anderson’s wife, his daughter and his son-in-law, novelist and co-editor Greg Bear. (Bear also writes the introduction, “My Friend Poul”.

Table of Contents:

• Introduction: My Friend Poul by Greg Bear
• Outmoded Things by Nancy Kress
• The Man Who Came Late by Harry Turtledove
• A Slip in Time by S. M. Stirling
• Living and Working with Poul Anderson by Karen Anderson
• Dancing on the Edge of the Dark by C. J. Cherryh
• The Lingering Joy by Stephen Baxter
• Operation Xibalba by Eric Flint
• Tales Told by Astrid Anderson Bear
• The Fey of Cloudmoor by Terry Brooks
• Christmas in Gondwanaland by Robert Silverberg
• Latecomers by David Brin
• An Appreciation of Poul Anderson by Jerry Pournelle
• A Candle by Raymond E. Feist
• The Far End by Larry Niven
• Bloodpride by Gregory Benford
• Three Lilies and Three Leopards (And a Participation Ribbon in Science) by Tad Williams

If you like the work of Poul Anderson, or just good solid science fiction, this is a book for you.

The Jewel That Was Ours by Colin Dexter, Ballantine (Ivy), 1991, paperback, mystery, police procedural – Inspector Morse

This is Inspector Morse’s ninth outing, if I have the count right, and though I’ve tried to read these in order it’s been a while and I think I pulled this off the shelf out of order. Still, little seems to have changed, perhaps Lewis is slightly more confident, and Morse is an angrier, sadder, boozier man than I remembered from the last one I read.

I liked John Thaw as Morse on the Mystery! and now I can’t read these books without picturing him in the role. No problem there.

This story concerns a group of tourists, all from California, on a tour of Oxford and other historical cities. One of the group is going to present an Oxford museum with The Wolverton Tongue, part of a buckle artifact originally set with three rubies (only one left now). The woman has a heart attack, the “jewel” is stolen, then a lecturer is murdered. Morse is attracted to a woman who drinks too much and is one of the lecturers to the group. With two deaths and a theft, the tour halts while Morse and Lewis investigate the many clues.

Dexter is a pleasure to read, though the last chapter seems overly drawn out in this book. Still, the motives are sound, the red herrings sufficiently convincing, the language satisfying, the clues well if scantily placed, and it’s another good Morse outing. These books are satisfying enough that I never seem to want to read two in a row, but each time I pick one up I’m glad I did. I think I still have a couple unread, so there is more to enjoy ahead. I was lucky enough to meet him at a signing some years ago in southern California, he was a very personable fellow.

If your only experience with Morse is with the televised series, I encourage you to try the books, these are very good.