I finished three books during this week, as well as one pulp magazine issue.
Books
- Space Cowboys, ed. by Kortnee Bryant. This recent (2023) anthology is the first of several from small publisher Raconteur Press aiming to capture the appeal of the American West in a science-fictional setting. As with any such anthology, not all stories were equally compelling, but the overall quality was such that I do intend to get and read the other Space Cowboys books (three more so far). Highlights for me included the first story, “Asteroid Wranglers,” by JL Curtis, where the roundup isn’t actually animal, and “Interstellar Cattle Drive,” by Cedar Sanderson, with its range detective hero. David Bock’s “All Creatures Weird and Wonderful” offered a pleasing homage to James Herriot’s accounts of his life and work as a veterinarian, too. I do wish the publisher had included the authors’ names in the table of contents, however, and not just at the start of each story and on the copyright page. Recommended.
- On the Soul and the Resurrection, by Gregory of Nyssa; trans. by Catharine P. Roth. In a dialogue modeled on the form used by Plato and other thinkers, the fourth-century churchman Gregory of Nyssa seeks a better understanding of resurrection in the light of Greek philosophical thought as well as Scripture. He is guided in his inquiry by his elder sister, Macrina, who endeavors to answer the queries and objections that he brings to the subject. The subject matter is perhaps too abstruse for a modern reader unlikely to be thinking in the same terms regarding physical nature, but the work is not without interest. Mildly recommended.
- Catch Me a Phoenix!, by Carter Brown. Private eye Danny Boyd travels to London with an art buyer who will be participating in a private auction of exquisite vases stolen from behind the Bamboo Curtain. Someone is attempting to scare off prospective buyers, so he has been brought along as security. A grim murder soon follows, and it’s up to Danny to figure out just who is the master criminal — a rival collector, or a representative of the nation from which the objects were stolen, or someone else? Mildly recommended.
Magazine
- Weird Tales, July 1925
This was a fairly unmemorable issue of the Unique Magazine. Highlights doubtless include “The Werewolf of Ponkert,” a novelette that was the first of H. Warner Munn’s series concerning “the Master,” which were collected in an Altus Press book ten years ago, Tales of the Werewolf Clan; “The Unnamable,” a Randolph Carter story by H. P. Lovecraft; and Robert E. Howard’s prehistoric tale, “Spear and Fang.” I did enjoy “The Wonderful Thing,” a gentler historical romantic fantasy by Henry S. Whitehead, and R. G. Macready’s “The Plant-Thing” reminded me of later B horror movies. There’s plenty more, including another tale of Haiti and the last, I think, of Seabury Quinn’s accounts of the Salem with trials.