Tip the Wink

Hayden’s World Volume 1 by S. D. Falchetti, 2018 trade paper, science fiction

I’m not sure how I came across this self-published hard science fiction collection, probably saw it on Amazon. The cover is certainly eye-catching, don’t you think?

James Hayden is a scientist, businessman, explorer, adventurer, promoter, space pilot. He and the other characters in these seven stories survive the skies of Saturn, Uranus and other parts of the outer Solar Syatem, desperate struggles at the solar system’s edge, and takes near-lightspeed interstellar expeditions.

The stories are tied together, much like chapters in a novel. I liked that.

Contents:

“43 Seconds”
“Silver-Side Up”
“Erebus” (novelette)
“Signal Loss” (novelette)
“Last Stand”
“Aero One”
“Titan’s Shadow”

See the image of the back of the book for a brief plot description. →

The writing style here is straightforward, clean. early Larry Niven in style. The stories are interesting, the characters involving and the hard science fiction well done.

When I finished reading this, I wanted more, and fortunately there is Hayden’s World Volume 2 which I have and plan to read soon.

Seventy-Seven Clocks by Christopher Fowler, Bantam 2008 trade paper, mystery, 3rd in Bryant & May series.

I’m continuing to read the series of mysteries featuring Braynt & May, written by Christopher Fowler. This is the 3rd.

The Bryant & May series:
Full Dark House  (2003)
The Water Room (2004)
Seventy-Seven Clocks  (2005)
Ten Second Staircase  (2006)
White Corridor  (2007)
The Victoria Vanishes  (2008)
Bryant & May on the Loose  (2009)
Off the Rails  (2010)
The Memory of Blood  (2011)
The Invisible Code  (2012)
The Bleeding Heart  (2014)
The Secret Santa  (2015)
The Burning Man  (2015)
London’s Glory (ss) (2015)
Strange Tide  (2016)
Wild Chamber  (2017)
Hall of Mirrors  (2018)
England’s Finest (ss) (2019)
The Lonely Hour ( 2019)
Oranges and Lemons (2020)
London Bridge is Falling Down (coming Dec. 2021)

It’s HOT here! 90s again today, too early in the year for this.
I’ve continued to read short stories this last week, but only from this one of the three books I showed last time, and I finished it. The first group of stories is in last week’s post.

The Mammoth Book of Locked-Room Mysteries and Impossible Crimes edited by Mike Ashley, 2000 ebook. An asterisk marks those I especially liked.

October 2000 ebook

Happy Memorial Day!
Here’s a touch of late Spring in our garden for you. As you can see, our Iris are in bloom. This one is “Rustler“, a favorite of mine.

Click to make bigger, and you can then scroll down below bottom right on image page to see “full size”

This time it’s a real smorgasbord, I’m reading from these three anthologies and collections: (*asterisk indicates one I especially liked)

from The Vintage Anthology of Science Fantasy edited by Christopher Cerf, Vintage 1966 mass market paperback

“The Great Automatic Grammatistator” by Ronald Dahl *
“An Egg A Month from All Over” by Idris Seabright
“There will Come Soft Rains” by Ray Bradbury.

from The Thinking Machine: Fifty Novelettes and Short Stories by Jacques Futrelle, 2018 trade paper

“Mystery of the Ralston Bank Burglary”
“Mystery of the Scarlet Thread” *
“Problem of Convict NO 97”

That’s it for this time!

WordPress has done it again. As of Sunday afternoon, the Classic Editor has become unavailable. Again. I’m beyond disgusted, have tried to get WordPress Help to no avail.

DAMN WORDPRESS. All I want to do is make a simple, old fashioned blog. A few words and a book cover image. Why do they have to make it so damned hard?

I’m giving myself a couple of days to keep trying – I had a nice short story post half done for Wednesday – and if I can’t get it straightened out I’ll have nothing more to do with WordPress and this blog will be GONE.

The Allingham Casebook: A Collection of Classic Crime Perfect for the Armchair Detective by Margery Allingham, crime short story collection, originally published in the UK, 1969, ebook edition Agora Books May 2017

I enjoyed reading this diverting and intelligent collection of crime stories in ebook edition. Over the years, I’ve enjoyed many of Allingham’s novels, though I have several left to read, but when I came across this inexpensive ebook format story collection it seemed like just the thing to pick up between other reading. Nothing profound here, just light, enjoyable tales.

1) Tall Story
2) Three is a Lucky Number
3) The Villa Marie Celeste
4) The Psychologist
5) Little Miss Know-All
6) One Morning They’ll Hang Him
7) The Lieabout
8) Face Value
9) Evidence in Camera
10) Joke Over
11) The Lying-in-state
12) The Pro and the Con
13) Is There A Doctor in the House?
14) The Borderline Case
15) They Never Get Caught
16) The Mind’s Eye Mystery
17) Mum Knows Best
18) The Snapdragon and the C.I.D.

Drive-Thru Life: The Story of John Galardi, Founder of Wienerschnitzel, by John Galadriel, Galadriel Group 2018 ebook

Ever since I was a tad, I’ve loved hot dogs. These days, naturally, everyone says they’re unhealthy, or full of bad stuff or whatever else to discourage a person from eating such a thing, but I still love ’em and I still eat ’em.

Sometime when I was in high school, I came across a Der Wienerschnitzel A-frame, red roofed, and found that for 15¢ (the same price, at the time, of a burger at McDonald’s) I could get a chili dog, with mustard and onions. Boy! There was many a time when, in college in Tucson, a buck in my pocket got me three chili dogs and a soda with change left over. There was a Der Wienerschnitzel in Santa Ana, not far from my home in Tustin, CA and I visited every couple of weeks, or sometimes weekly. There are no franchises here in Oregon, and I miss Der Wienerschnitzel a lot. Yes, I have a T-shirt.

I got this free ebook from the Der Wienerschnitzel website. It tells the story of Galardi deciding to start a fast food business, learning the ropes by working in a Taco Bell, then launching his first, and many successive stores. Pretty interesting.

I wish I had one of those chili dogs right now.