Isaac Asimov, Greenberg, Waugh, eds. Starships (1983)

     Isaac Asimov, Greenberg, Waugh, eds. Starships (1983) The editors have chosen a variety of stories, grouped in the table of contents under headings such as The Complement (ie, the crew, etc). The stories are uniformly very good, well written, focussing as much on character as on technology, yet providing that staple of good SF, the technical, or sociological puzzle, or that staple of fantasy, the what if the future were not that much different from the present? ** to *** (2005)

James Thurber. The 13 Clocks (1950)

     James Thurber. The 13 Clocks (1950) A strange and wonderful little fairy tale, packaged as a children’s book, but I think more than satisfying for adults. Prince Zorn, disguised as Xingu, a wandering minstrel, must find a thousand jewels and restart the 13 clocks that have frozen at 5 minutes to 2, else he will die at the hands of the Duke, which is bad enough, and lose the fair hand of the Princess Saralinda, which is worse. With the help of a Golux he accomplishes his task, but not before a string of outrageous puns and sly allusions to other fairy tales threaten to derail the plot. But the plot is craftily plotted, and Zorn and Saralinda ride off on two white horses, while the Duke suffers a well-deserved and ignominious end. Another book to try out on Bria. *** (2005)

Ellis Peters. The Assize of the Dying (1958)

     Ellis Peters. The Assize of the Dying (1958) Two novellas, both psychological crime stories, neither very good. These are Peters’s early works, and it shows. The style is dilatory, lacks tension, and the pacing stumbles, with a lot of unnecessary foreshadowing. The plotting is good, and the puzzle is decent in the first novella. I didn’t finish the second one, though. * (2005)

Eric Wright Smoke Detector (1984)

     Eric Wright Smoke Detector (1984) #2 in the Charlie Salter saga. An antique dealer dies because of arson. Charlie gets the job because homicide is busy on other things. The murder turns out to be accidental, but the second one is not. Their roots lie in the past, when a man took on safe-keeping of a box containing Japanese prints. He kept this commitment until his son-in-law stole the box and sold it to the antique dealer, whereupon a chain of the usual coincidences and misunderstandings and withholding of information precipitate another murder and finally the solution to the case. Trouble is, the suspect Charlie dislikes is innocent, and the one he likes is the murderer. Charlie’s family figures prominently in this novel, and again it seems like Wright is working out his own family problems through his fiction. Or reporting on them; it’s not clear. **½ (2005)

Susan Pearson The Tap Dance Mystery (1990)

     Susan Pearson The Tap Dance Mystery (1990) “Eagle Eye Ernie”, aka Ernestine Jones, is the Sleuth of, um, er, Grade Two? That’s about right, I think, considering the reading level of this nicely done “Book for Young Readers”, as Simon and Schuster touts it. Ernie has to find out who stole Marcey’s tap dancing shoes, after Marcey has made herself very unpopular with her bossy and superior ways. She is supposed to teach Ernie’s group how to tap dance, you see. Well, in the end, Ernie finds the shoes, hidden in the piano. And Marcey turns out to be OK, and Jason turns out to be a better tapper than Marcey, and Marcey admits it. And Ernie’s group (with Marcey and Jason leading) put on a great performance. So that’s all right.
     I have no idea how early readers would respond to this carefully “correct” story, with the boys and girls doing the same kinds of things, and everyone finally all lovey-dovey. The book was a discard from the Blind River Public Library, but it looks well and often read. ** (2005)

Eric Wright A Single Death (1987)

     Eric Wright A Single Death (1987) Charlie Salter’s ex-wife Gerry shows up demanding that he look into the death of a friend of hers, who was apparently raped and murdered. Along the way to the solution, Charlie shops for Christmas, listens to some feminist lecturing by his wife Annie, and generally lives the life of a middle-aged Canadian male with the usual domestic responsibilities. He just happens to be a cop. Wright makes Charlie a little too good to be true; I suspect that Charlie is fighting Wright’s battles, but more sensibly and sensitively than Wright himself. Or maybe not. Wright tries a little too hard to set the scene in Toronto, dropping the names of TO streets and neighbourhoods isn’t enough: one needs descriptions, too. Anyhow, the series is pleasant to read. I’m slowly accumulating a complete set. **½ (2005)

David Brin. The River of Time (1987)

     David Brin. The River of Time (1987) Brin writes everything from straight technological what-ifs to surreal (meta-)physical fantasy. He’s most interested in what would happen if some of the so-called hard realities, both physical and social, of our universe were different. Even in his most didactic mode, he creates credible characters. His style is clear. He is quite good at conveying the fantastic but logical consequences of his premises. He approaches tragedy in some of his tales, yet on the whole he has an optimistic outlook; humanity, in whatever form and whatever reality, will prevail. Worth reading again, but not worth keeping. **½ (2005)