We hit a hundred degrees here today. I haven’t been outside more than a few minutes since early this morning, but when I went to get the mail it was aitch owe tee hot. We keep the house at about 78° which is fairly comfortable, though the upstairs can get a little warm at times. Nothing a ceiling fan can’t handle.
I had yesterday off from work to take care of some personal business. Didn’t get much writing done, but read about 175 pages of The Sun Over Breda. The story feels a little flat compared to the previous two Alatriste novels, perhaps because Alatriste isn’t really driving the story.
Last night we went downtown to the Aquarium restaurant, which is cool. The centerpiece of the restaurant is a 500,000 gallon salt-water aquarium stocked with coral and tropical sea life, including stingrays, sharks, swordfish, moray eels and fish of all sizes and types, some of them gi-normous. It was fun watching them frolic while we ate, though I do confess to feeling a little guilty about ordering the fisherman’s platter and eating it in front of them. Afterward we went for a ride on the ferris wheel.
I bought a copy of Nick Kaufmann’s General Slocum’s Gold at NECON and I read it shortly after I got home but haven’t had time to write my thoughts about it until now. The 36-page chapbook was published by Burning Effigy Press. It has a glossy cover with moody photograph on the front, synopsis and blurbs on the back. There are no inside illustrations, just stories—and that’s fine with me. The only other story by Nick I’ve read is Toad Lily, which was in Cemetery Dance magazine. This story is better—far better.
After the softball game at NECON, Nick said to me that he didn’t know I could play that well (I caught one difficult fly ball). To return the compliment—I didn’t know Nick could write this well. I knew he could write, but General Slocum’s Gold displays highly polished writing and acute storytelling. If features a man named Sackett, a crook who’s done his time at Riker’s, and is always looking for the next best thing. He has an unusual talent that makes him valuable in criminal enterprises—a kind of super-charged X-ray vision.
The story alternates between a nineteenth century tale and Sackett’s present-day adventures. It’s a caper of sorts—Sackett is hired to help find a legendary treasure trove. One element of the story is based on historical fact: the tragedy of the General Slocum, a sidewheel steamship that caught fire in New York’s East River in 1904. The loss of life rivaled that of the Titanic.
Capers usually end in one of three ways: the protagonists get caught, someone else gets to the prize first, or the protagonists find the treasure only it’s not exactly what they expected. Things rarely go without several hitches. Nick has come up with a hitch of monumental proportions, but I won’t spoil things by revealing exactly what.
In short, the writing is crisp, vivid, fresh and polished to a shiny gleam. I have only a few quibbles. First off, the synopsis on the back cover goes about a sentence too far. Avoid it until after you’ve read the story. Secondly, though the front cover is attractive and moody, it doesn’t really have much relevance to the story. And, finally, it’s not really General Slocum’s gold— it’s the General Slocum’s gold. General Slocum was a Civil War officer and the boat is simply named for him. Minor quibbles all, none of which take away from the enjoyment of a fine story.
Today I watched the last two episode of the first season of Torchwood. I was very glad to discover that they elected not to end with the obvious cliffhanger. The guy who played Bellis was cree-pee to the max. It was a very satisfying end to an excellent first series. I had the advantage of having already seen Season 3 of Doctor Who, so I already knew the significance of the last few minutes. I’ll be curious to see how they handle the crossover stuff with Doctor Who in Season 2 of Torchwood. Will they assume people are watching both shows?
7 Responses to Triple digits + General Slocum + Torchwood finale