• Bulldog Drummond Strikes Back

    From Joy Beeson@21:1/5 to All on Mon Jun 16 22:16:25 2025
    Sunday, 15 June 2025

    At times I think I may have read this book as a teenager.

    The decision to go to Farthington instead of telephoning was
    all doylist, with no watsonian explanation. Also, a
    concussion that keeps one (or two) out of action for days is
    not as trivial as I expect it to turn out to be.

    Monday, 16 June 2025

    Mr. McNeil goes out of his way to portray Bulldog as not too
    swift in the head, but you'd think that at least one of the
    gang would suspect that "died in agony" would cast some
    slight doubt on the suicide theory.

    And yes, Bulldog woke up, leaped out of bed, and beat up six
    goons.

    But he did portray, in the coda, the two concussed patients
    convalescing in bath chairs.

    --
    Joy Beeson
    joy beeson at centurylink dot net
    http://wlweather.net/PAGEJOY/

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  • From Ted Nolan @21:1/5 to [email protected] on Tue Jun 17 04:07:24 2025
    In article <[email protected]>,
    Joy Beeson <[email protected]d> wrote:

    Sunday, 15 June 2025

    At times I think I may have read this book as a teenager.

    The decision to go to Farthington instead of telephoning was
    all doylist, with no watsonian explanation. Also, a
    concussion that keeps one (or two) out of action for days is
    not as trivial as I expect it to turn out to be.

    Monday, 16 June 2025

    Mr. McNeil goes out of his way to portray Bulldog as not too
    swift in the head, but you'd think that at least one of the
    gang would suspect that "died in agony" would cast some
    slight doubt on the suicide theory.

    And yes, Bulldog woke up, leaped out of bed, and beat up six
    goons.

    But he did portray, in the coda, the two concussed patients
    convalescing in bath chairs.

    --

    I'm a little confused. Are you talking about the 1934 film?
    I don't see a McNeil book by that title.
    --
    columbiaclosings.com
    What's not in Columbia anymore..

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  • From Joy Beeson@21:1/5 to tednolan on Wed Jun 18 14:28:11 2025
    On 17 Jun 2025 04:07:24 GMT, [email protected] (Ted Nolan
    <tednolan>) wrote:

    In article <[email protected]>,
    Joy Beeson <[email protected]d> wrote:

    Sunday, 15 June 2025

    At times I think I may have read this book as a teenager.

    The decision to go to Farthington instead of telephoning was
    all doylist, with no watsonian explanation. Also, a
    concussion that keeps one (or two) out of action for days is
    not as trivial as I expect it to turn out to be.

    Monday, 16 June 2025

    Mr. McNeil goes out of his way to portray Bulldog as not too
    swift in the head, but you'd think that at least one of the
    gang would suspect that "died in agony" would cast some
    slight doubt on the suicide theory.

    And yes, Bulldog woke up, leaped out of bed, and beat up six
    goons.

    But he did portray, in the coda, the two concussed patients
    convalescing in bath chairs.

    --

    I'm a little confused. Are you talking about the 1934 film?
    I don't see a McNeil book by that title.

    I appear to have mislaid the book, and all I recall is that
    it was discarded from a Vermont library back when they had a
    pocket in back for the card, this one a diagonal strip of
    cardboard; it still has the sheet to stamp the due date on.

    I think the copyright was 1933.

    If it turns up when I declutter the house to get Dave back
    from the place where I read it, I'll comment on the
    simple-substitution cipher that experts said was
    unbreakable. I don't think that "day of the week backward"
    could possibly work -- less than half of the letters would
    be changed.

    Probably two weeks before I can check in again.

    --
    Joy Beeson
    joy beeson at centurylink dot net
    http://wlweather.net/PAGEJOY/

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  • From Ted Nolan @21:1/5 to [email protected] on Sat Jun 21 14:07:40 2025
    In article <1036261$112rt$[email protected]>,
    Robert Carnegie <[email protected]> wrote:
    On 17/06/2025 05:07, Ted Nolan <tednolan> wrote:
    In article <[email protected]>,
    Joy Beeson <[email protected]d> wrote:

    Sunday, 15 June 2025

    At times I think I may have read this book as a teenager.

    The decision to go to Farthington instead of telephoning was
    all doylist, with no watsonian explanation. Also, a
    concussion that keeps one (or two) out of action for days is
    not as trivial as I expect it to turn out to be.

    Monday, 16 June 2025

    Mr. McNeil goes out of his way to portray Bulldog as not too
    swift in the head, but you'd think that at least one of the
    gang would suspect that "died in agony" would cast some
    slight doubt on the suicide theory.

    And yes, Bulldog woke up, leaped out of bed, and beat up six
    goons.

    But he did portray, in the coda, the two concussed patients
    convalescing in bath chairs.

    --

    I'm a little confused. Are you talking about the 1934 film?
    I don't see a McNeil book by that title.

    I've got ><https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulldog_Drummond_Strikes_Back_%281947_film%29> >(1947) said to be "loosely based on the
    H. C. McNeile ['Sapper'] novel _Knock-Out_" (1932).
    Appropriate title.

    Each work has a "stub" Wikipedia article, i.e.
    not comprehensive. For instance, no plot
    information is included. But there are
    external links.

    I speculate that _Knock-Out_ has an American
    book edition with the other title, either around
    1932 or 1947 or in-between.

    I might be pressed to reproduce remarks in
    Dorothy L. Sayers's _Murder Must Advertise_ (1933)
    - if I've actually got a copy - about the robust
    constitution of thriller heroes, specifically
    Sexton Blake - Sayers had enjoyed Blake's
    adventures much earlier, and there are reports
    that her detective Lord Peter Wimsey first
    occurred in a Sexton Blake story that she wrote
    by and possibly for herself. I don't think this
    is canon. In _Murder Must Advertise_,
    Lord Peter recruits an assistant who also is
    a Blake fan, and who lends Lord Peter one of
    these thrilling novels.


    I enjoyed the first Drummond book. I believe he does get knocked
    about a good bit and (shades of the War) gassed, but he was a
    Regimental boxer so takes it in stride. In general though he tends
    more towards elan than brute force.
    --
    columbiaclosings.com
    What's not in Columbia anymore..

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  • From Joy Beeson@21:1/5 to tednolan on Sun Jun 22 00:54:43 2025
    On 17 Jun 2025 04:07:24 GMT, [email protected] (Ted Nolan
    <tednolan>) wrote:

    I'm a little confused. Are you talking about the 1934 film?
    I don't see a McNeil book by that title.

    The book was also a little thin; I envisioned the publisher
    saying "Herman, baby, they'll buy *anything* with Bulldog in
    the title, so crank something out." The gang had a dramatic
    scene, but were scarcely name-checked, as if thrown in
    because they were part of the Bulldog mythos. And despite
    their ample numbers, they didn't search the mansion after
    rescuing Bulldog from the squash court.

    Wikipedia says that Bulldog married in the very first
    adventure, and I distinctly remember Peterson playing
    treasure hunt with a kidnapped wife when I read the books at
    the Colfax library in the fifties. In this book there isn't
    the slightest hint that Bulldog has ever even considered
    matrimony; it sounds more like one of the movie adaptations.

    Surely Grosset & Dunlap were above commissioning a rip-off
    and passing it off as the work of H.C. McNeil.

    I can't read your replies until I figure out how to stop
    marking everything read when I download, and there's a *lot*
    of more-important backlog. Tomorrow I hope to run a load of
    wash -- I'm completely out of non-heavy socks.

    But I've finally caught up on sleep; I woke up for my usual
    anti-nap tonight.

    --
    Joy Beeson
    joy beeson at centurylink dot net
    http://wlweather.net/PAGEJOY/

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  • From Joy Beeson@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Wed Jun 25 15:52:32 2025
    On Sat, 21 Jun 2025 11:40:00 +0100, Robert Carnegie
    <[email protected]> wrote:

    I've got <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulldog_Drummond_Strikes_Back_%281947_film%29> (1947) said to be "loosely based on the
    H. C. McNeile ['Sapper'] novel _Knock-Out_" (1932).
    Appropriate title.

    The end papers did consist entirely of film scenes.

    I'm not back, I decided that I'd never get time to read
    those other threads.
    https://pcwrede.com/pcw-wp/writing-time/

    I did get a nap today, but not full-length and I'm still
    tired from yesterday. But I can lie down while visiting. It
    worked to get me safe to drive home yesterday, when I'd had
    a V-8 instead of a nap.

    --
    Joy Beeson
    joy beeson at centurylink dot net
    http://wlweather.net/PAGEJOY/

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  • From Joy Beeson@21:1/5 to All on Fri Jun 27 09:50:02 2025
    Friday, 27 June 2025

    I have just finished Poul Anderson's _Agent of the Terran
    Empire_, which replaced Bulldog in my go bag. I think the
    two are the same sub-sub genre, save that Bulldog doesn't
    know that his empire is doomed (And no Long Night ensued,
    albeit Vai Victus, as always, has been abundant.) (Vae
    Victor hasn't been all that rare.)

    And that Flandry studiously avoids long-term relationships.

    _The Book of Ash_ is next in line. It's too thick for the
    usual pocket of my go bag (I have left-over space in the
    main compartment, having stopped carrying a light jacket),
    and I suspect that nothing by Mary Gentle will be
    appropriate distraction, but there aren't a lot of unread
    books in the house. I don't think Ethics for Nurses (1916)
    could hold my attention long at a time.

    But I get Dave back this coming Wednesday. Then I can read
    Usenet while he reads Analog and Hitchcock.

    --
    Joy Beeson
    joy beeson at centurylink dot net
    http://wlweather.net/PAGEJOY/

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  • From James Nicoll@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Fri Jun 27 22:17:56 2025
    In article <[email protected]>,
    Joy Beeson <[email protected]d> wrote:

    Friday, 27 June 2025

    I have just finished Poul Anderson's _Agent of the Terran
    Empire_, which replaced Bulldog in my go bag. I think the
    two are the same sub-sub genre, save that Bulldog doesn't
    know that his empire is doomed (And no Long Night ensued,
    albeit Vai Victus, as always, has been abundant.) (Vae
    Victor hasn't been all that rare.)

    And that Flandry studiously avoids long-term relationships.

    There are two exceptions but who they are are spoilers.
    --
    My reviews can be found at http://jamesdavisnicoll.com/
    My tor pieces at https://www.tor.com/author/james-davis-nicoll/
    My Dreamwidth at https://james-davis-nicoll.dreamwidth.org/
    My patreon is at https://www.patreon.com/jamesdnicoll

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  • From Joy Beeson@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Sun Jun 29 21:57:39 2025
    On Fri, 27 Jun 2025 09:50:02 -0400, Joy Beeson
    <[email protected]d> wrote:

    _The Book of Ash_ is next in line. It's too thick for the
    usual pocket of my go bag (I have left-over space in the
    main compartment, having stopped carrying a light jacket),
    and I suspect that nothing by Mary Gentle will be
    appropriate distraction, but there aren't a lot of unread
    books in the house. I don't think Ethics for Nurses (1916)
    could hold my attention long at a time.

    _Lost Burgundy_, to be exact. Unexpected problem: A great
    deal of important material is in italic type a smidgeon
    smaller than the roman, and I can't read it in the available
    light. So I turned to a dramatic scene near the end -- Ash
    feeling that she should have noticed the character of her
    nurse sooner -- and have been getting on well; Gentle's work
    is so together that I don't really need all that background
    at the beginning, yet feel sure that it would been worth
    reading.

    Today I read a couple of magazines that came in yesterday's
    mail and were left in the box until I checked it on the way
    out today. We swapped, which pleased me very much, as he's
    been too tired to read.

    Come bedtime Wednesday, I'll be reading Usenet, and with
    luck it will take months to find out how _Lost Burgundy_
    comes out.


    --
    Joy Beeson
    joy beeson at centurylink dot net
    http://wlweather.net/PAGEJOY/

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  • From Bobbie Sellers@21:1/5 to Joy Beeson on Sun Jun 29 21:19:52 2025
    On 6/29/25 18:57, Joy Beeson wrote:
    On Fri, 27 Jun 2025 09:50:02 -0400, Joy Beeson
    <[email protected]d> wrote:

    _The Book of Ash_ is next in line. It's too thick for the
    usual pocket of my go bag (I have left-over space in the
    main compartment, having stopped carrying a light jacket),
    and I suspect that nothing by Mary Gentle will be
    appropriate distraction, but there aren't a lot of unread
    books in the house. I don't think Ethics for Nurses (1916)
    could hold my attention long at a time.

    _Lost Burgundy_, to be exact. Unexpected problem: A great
    deal of important material is in italic type a smidgeon
    smaller than the roman, and I can't read it in the available
    light. So I turned to a dramatic scene near the end -- Ash
    feeling that she should have noticed the character of her
    nurse sooner -- and have been getting on well; Gentle's work
    is so together that I don't really need all that background
    at the beginning, yet feel sure that it would been worth
    reading.

    Today I read a couple of magazines that came in yesterday's
    mail and were left in the box until I checked it on the way
    out today. We swapped, which pleased me very much, as he's
    been too tired to read.

    Come bedtime Wednesday, I'll be reading Usenet, and with
    luck it will take months to find out how _Lost Burgundy_
    comes out.

    At 87 I have to use a lighted magnifier I inherited from a former roommate and
    a former friend. We lost that friendship when she moved into my studio apartment
    in a bad time for her then and in San Francisco where housing is high
    priced when
    she was working again she stayed in her share of my space. She died of
    brain cancer when it migrated from her lungs before the lung cancers
    were detected. Don't let your kids start smoking tobacco as it is just a
    slow killer. It also ruined her teeth.

    bliss



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  • From Joy Beeson@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Thu Jul 3 22:26:28 2025
    On Sun, 29 Jun 2025 21:57:39 -0400, Joy Beeson
    <[email protected]d> wrote:

    with
    luck it will take months to find out how _Lost Burgundy_
    comes out.

    Skipped some more italics. The Faris was referred to as a
    surgeon several times, but there was no mention of her when
    all available medical personnel were being overworked after
    the battle.

    Found the Bulldog book, but will fall into bed any minute. I
    indulged in Facebook this evening; quite a lot of posts has
    accumulated.

    Oops, "switch off"

    --
    Joy Beeson
    joy beeson at centurylink dot net

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  • From Joy Beeson@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Mon Jul 7 13:43:39 2025
    On Sun, 29 Jun 2025 21:57:39 -0400, Joy Beeson
    <[email protected]d> wrote:

    Come bedtime Wednesday, I'll be reading Usenet, and with
    luck it will take months to find out how _Lost Burgundy_
    comes out.

    No luck. I know how _Lost Burgundy_ came out, and am a few
    chapters into Ethics for Nurses. (1916, IRRC)

    Early on it says that first of all, a good nurse is a good
    woman, then a few pages later includes a quote that says
    that every person in a hospital has his duty.

    Shows that they still believed that only women could be
    nurses, but had not yet adopted the meme that women were
    delicate sub-human creatures who are never included unless
    specifically mentioned.

    I recall when "male nurse" didn't mean quite the same thing
    as "RN", and they worked only in mental hospitals and other
    places where an imposing physical presence might be
    required.

    Mom came home from work once and told us the story of a
    patient who wouldn't let a male nurse attend to her until
    Mom put her cap on him.

    The only caps I've seen at Parkview are the ones on the
    call-button icons.

    I wonder how many of the people now alive know why there's a
    cap on that icon.

    Time to put my pajamas into my go bag and go back to
    Parkview.

    --
    Joy Beeson
    joy beeson at centurylink dot net
    http://wlweather.net/PAGEJOY/

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  • From Ted Nolan @21:1/5 to [email protected] on Tue Jul 8 00:38:59 2025
    In article <104hj9o$355hq$[email protected]>,
    Robert Carnegie <[email protected]> wrote:
    On 07/07/2025 18:43, Joy Beeson wrote:
    On Sun, 29 Jun 2025 21:57:39 -0400, Joy Beeson
    <[email protected]d> wrote:

    Come bedtime Wednesday, I'll be reading Usenet, and with
    luck it will take months to find out how _Lost Burgundy_
    comes out.

    No luck. I know how _Lost Burgundy_ came out, and am a few
    chapters into Ethics for Nurses. (1916, IRRC)

    Early on it says that first of all, a good nurse is a good
    woman, then a few pages later includes a quote that says
    that every person in a hospital has his duty.

    Shows that they still believed that only women could be
    nurses, but had not yet adopted the meme that women were
    delicate sub-human creatures who are never included unless
    specifically mentioned.

    Or - the difference between book author
    and quoted author, aside - the pronoun "his"
    was being allowed to stand for a man or a woman.

    It could even be from Florence Nightingale.

    If anyone thinks we have too many pronouns now,
    i could argue that this example shows that in the
    past, we had too few. Although there, the good old
    "singular they" would have worked.

    Also, "nurse" used not to imply having education
    in medical practices. Just... showing up.
    I'm thinking about the Charles Dickens novel
    standard of nursing.


    Or just showing up and giving suck like Juliet's nurse.
    --
    columbiaclosings.com
    What's not in Columbia anymore..

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  • From Joy Beeson@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Wed Jul 9 21:35:11 2025
    On Mon, 7 Jul 2025 23:55:53 +0100, Robert Carnegie
    <[email protected]> wrote:

    Also, "nurse" used not to imply having education
    in medical practices.

    Hence the expression "trained nurse", followed by
    "Registered Nurse" and "Licensed Practical Nurse". There
    was another kind, which I have now forgotten.

    There used to be a Red Cross course called "home nursing".

    I think I had more to say, but I just fell asleep. But I'm
    going to sleep in my own bed.

    Kept wanting to ask the nurses (several varieties, all
    wearing the same scrub suits, including the housekeeping
    staff) silly questions such as "are student nurses still
    forbidden to run." Which came to me as I was "nurse
    walking" to the car for something.

    Ah, I think the root meaning of "nurse" is the kind rich
    people hired to take care of small children.

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  • From Bobbie Sellers@21:1/5 to Joy Beeson on Wed Jul 9 22:07:58 2025
    On 7/9/25 18:35, Joy Beeson wrote:
    On Mon, 7 Jul 2025 23:55:53 +0100, Robert Carnegie
    <[email protected]> wrote:

    Also, "nurse" used not to imply having education
    in medical practices.

    Hence the expression "trained nurse", followed by
    "Registered Nurse" and "Licensed Practical Nurse". There
    was another kind, which I have now forgotten.

    There used to be a Red Cross course called "home nursing".

    I think I had more to say, but I just fell asleep. But I'm
    going to sleep in my own bed.

    Kept wanting to ask the nurses (several varieties, all
    wearing the same scrub suits, including the housekeeping
    staff) silly questions such as "are student nurses still
    forbidden to run." Which came to me as I was "nurse
    walking" to the car for something.

    Ah, I think the root meaning of "nurse" is the kind rich
    people hired to take care of small children.


    No. The original were nursing mothers with enough milk for the
    Mistress's child. You are thinking of other positions with slightly
    older children.
    I am trained in among other things, Licensed Vocational Nursing.
    I do my best to avoid nursing due to my own health problems.

    bliss

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  • From Joy Beeson@21:1/5 to All on Wed Jul 30 23:26:10 2025
    Current reading is the March-April 2025 Analog. I checked a
    few times to make sure I hadn't picked up a Hitchcock
    instead.

    No details until after I put the July Beeson Banner to bed.

    Right now, I'm going to put me to bed. My own bed, and it
    has been ever since Thursday. (? outpatient Friday,
    Saturday, Sunday. Yes, Thursday.)

    Got a few weeds out of the garden.

    --
    Joy Beeson, U.S.A., mostly central Hoosier,
    some Northern Indiana, Upstate New York, Florida, and Hawaii
    joy beeson at centurylink dot net
    http://wlweather.net/PAGEJOY/
    The above message is a Usenet post.

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  • From Joy Beeson@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Mon Sep 1 20:53:29 2025
    On Wed, 30 Jul 2025 23:26:10 -0400, Joy Beeson
    <[email protected]d> wrote:


    No details until after I put the July Beeson Banner to bed.

    Notes for this thread are mixed in with the Banner notes.

    &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
    30 June 2025: Ash: p. 311: skipped italics.

    4 July 2025: ER toilet has lock. [At first glance, I
    thought it also lacked the pull cord, but it was a different
    color from those in the rooms upstairs.]

    5 July 2025:
    RASFW: Florian surgeon. [Repeatedly referred to as
    "surgeon", but not called on when desperate for medics.
    Perhaps explained in the parts that I skipped.]
    Banner: tetanus laceration [Dave got tetanus shot for
    scrape, I didn't get one for my dirty laceration a few years
    ago.]
    RASFW: [1916 Ethics for Nurses] p.17 good nurse is good
    woman
    p.23 "no reason for his being"
    [I think I discussed this before: It's an obvious
    no-brainer that only females can be nurses, but there is no
    hesitation in referring to a generic member of the hospital
    staff as "he". They have not yet realized that a woman is a
    delicate sub-human creature who wouldn't dream of feeling
    included unless specifically mentioned.]

    Monday, 21 July 2025 18:09
    [snip]
    __________________________
    Bulldog
    Now reading Analog May/June 2020.
    Anniversary issue - reprint "Weyre Search".
    When I read it on first publication, it seemed a straight
    retelling of Cinderella.
    Found it in anthology, Lessa plainly unfit to rule.
    Third read will show whether I changed or story edited.

    Mon 21 July 2025 18:31
    Will I someday transcribe these notes?
    [snip]
    23:26 Bulldog [Analog] p.27
    Ah, F'lar notices that Lessa must be reformed.
    ______
    [snip]

    Sunday 22 June 2025
    [Snip Pagesew & Banner marked transcribed]
    Monday
    Ban: hair 3 parts [I'll mark that "transcribed" without
    transcribing it.]
    &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

    Oops, I have begun again at the beginning of the leaflet.
    There's another leaflet, but I think my day is over.

    ------------------------------------------
    19 August 2025

    Should have dated the above entry.

    Banner was mailed on the tenth, but I forgot I was writing
    this. It's almost eleven pm. No more thinking tonight.

    ------------------------------------------
    27 August 2025

    We haven't been to the emergency room since the midnight
    between the fourteenth and fifteeth, and on Monday, after
    keeping the routine appointment that had been postponed and
    postponed (and *they* came *here*!), I chirped and twittered
    that the only other appointment this week was to have
    fiber-optic installed tomorrow. Then this morning the nurse
    who was to come next week called to say she'd come today.

    (vital signs, verifying when the catheter is due, sign that
    I've been here, and after lunch I went back to writing. May
    yet make the recycle-center ride -- but they close at four
    and I need a nap.) [I got the tour on Thursday.]

    I'm still reading the March-April Analog. "In Times to
    Come" begins "Unlike this issue, there's no grand unifying
    theme for May/June . . . " I looked and looked, but could
    find no indication of what the "grand unifying theme" is.
    (My impression that I was reading Ellery Queen or Hitchcock
    is a clue.) It no doubt says in the January/February Times
    to Come, but a casual search doesn't find it, and I did put
    some story magazines in a Little Library.

    Transcription will continue.

    ------------------------------------------

    Perhaps tonight. When I tried to send this, Brightspeed was
    down, and they called later to say they wouldn't be up until
    three tomorrow afternoon.

    ------------------------------------------

    Found it while putting some elastic away. The theme is . .
    . taxes? I don't remember any story *mentioning* taxes, let
    alone being about taxes. (Reread) Ah ". . . the juncture
    where death and money meet: crime." Getting there from
    "tax day" is up there with "trouble with a capital T which
    rhymes with P and that stands for pool."


    Friday, 29 August 2025

    Can't send this because the internet is down again. We'd be
    having some sharp words with BrightSpeed, were it not that
    we have already told Surf Internet to install fiber-optic
    cable.


    --
    Joy Beeson
    joy beeson at centurylink dot net
    http://wlweather.net/PAGEJOY/

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