Okay, I can tell you have been waiting on the edge of your seat to see which short story collection I pick up next. (More like you are thinking, oh, yet another new short story collection? . . . ). Who would have thought there would be enough Christmas-related crime stories to put together into one big anthology, but Otto Penzler has done just that. I really love these Vintage Crime/Black Lizard story collections edited by Penzler. In the past I have dipped into the Big Book of Ghost Stories (always meant to buy that one as it was a library copy that I borrowed) and found it most enjoyable. While I will continue reading Francesca Marciano (and hopefully Jane Gardam, too), I will be finishing out the year's Sunday short story posts with The Big Book of Christmas Mysteries. Between seeing the Nutcracker today and reading holiday mysteries, I am getting into the spirit of the season. Besides, ever since I bought this collection earlier in the year I have been looking forward to reading some of the stories.
In case you are curious, the book is a nice size chock full of stories, so you definitely get your money's worth. It is divided thematically under the headings such as--A Traditional Little Christmas, A Pulpy Little Christmas, A Scary Little Christmas and A Puzzling Little Christmas. The authors run the gamut. Everyone from Agatha Christie to Peter Lovesey, Sara Paretsky to Rex Stout. Seeing as ghost stories abound at Christmas time, it seems only fitting to read from this collection during December.
So where to begin. It is always fun choosing a new story to read. You never quite know what you are going to get. A mini literary adventure, and I am always up for an adventure. Looking through the list of stories my eye was caught by one by Ethel Lina White called "Waxworks". Aside from the fact that waxworks conjures up all sorts of frightening images, I have read and liked Ethel Lina White's work in the past. She is best known for her novel (made into a movie not once but twice), The Lady Vanishes (published under the title The Wheel Spins). I have always meant to read more of her work so this is a nice reminder and a little taste while I contemplate finding more of her (out of print) books.
As scary works go, "Waxworks" is very tame and relies heavily on suggestion and atmosphere but is none the less well done for that fact. It was first published in the December 1930 issue of Pearson's Magazine. So imagine a nice B&W movie here, with an elegant actress and some actor a la lon Chaney maybe or John Carradine.
My other attraction for the story--a young reporter of the female persuasion who shows no end to a brave show and limitless moxie. Sonia is the lone woman on a staff of all male writers. She may be something of a novelty, but she's not afraid to work and put in all the hours and industry necessary to succeed. While her coworkers fully expect her to take the traditional out at some point (pairing her up romantically with one of the men), she ends up attracting a different sort of passion--one of hatred.
"Bubbling with enthusiasm, she made no secret of her literary ambitions, and it was difficult to fee her enough work."
A local Waxworks has recently acquired a sinister reputation. First a commercial traveller had been found inside with his throat cut. And in the Hall of Horrors no less. And then on two other separate occasions the tally had been upped by two more.
"While the coincidence of the tragedies stirred up a considerable amount of local superstition, the general belief was that both deaths were due to the power of suggestion, in conjunction with macabre surroundings. The victims had let themselves be frightened to death by the Waxworks."
Sonia smells a story in this strange situation. She hides in one of the exhibits with nothing more than her notebook, a thermos of hot coffee and a torch to be used only in an emergency. She will spend the night there and see what happens noting down her thoughts and observations at each hour during the night. Are you wondering what the holiday connection is? It happens to be December!
"Although the evening was warm and muggy the invitation suffused Sonia with the spirit of Christmas. The shade of Dickens seemed to be hovering over the parade of streets. A red-nosed Santa Claus presided over a spangled Christmas-tree outside a toy-shop. Windows were hung with tinselled balls and coloured paper festoons."
She may be cause for jealousy by some of her colleagues, but one (who issued the invitation) is rather sweet on her and tells her he will be outside watching and waiting for any signal of distress--she need only shine her torch outside the window.
A story best enjoyed sitting in front of a roaring fire with icy rain or snow pelting against your windows. Or, wherever you happen to be now. What it lacks in chills it makes up for in mood. I do like Ethel Lina White--must really find more of her work.
Check back next week for another installment of Christmastime crime!
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Reading the weekly New Yorker short story broadens my literary horizons by leaps and bounds. I wonder if (thinking back over the stories I've read, and I really must put together a handy list) I had read many of the writers who have appeared this year. (I have renewed my subscription so will continue on with my reading in 2015 by the way). In most cases the authors are either completely new to me, or new in that I have never read them though may be familiar with their work in other ways.
This weekend I read Dave Eggers's "The Alaska of Giants and Gods" from the November 17 issue. Stories can be so curious. In some ways they verge on far-fetched, but only because my life hardly resembles any other that I read about. That's okay, and not to say those other experiences aren't true or valid. This is why I read, to learn something more, see something different and expand my horizons. But still, the stories are often curious in that human experience is so curious. And it's amazing how you can be pulled into these lives.
Josie has come to Alaska with her small son and daughter. She's on the run from her ex-husband. What better place to run and hide in than Alaska. In a white RV. In Alaska there are lots of white RVs. She's essentially going off the grid. That's the premise, but the story itself is something else entirely. The trio end up on a cruise ship docked in one of Alaska's ports where they have been invited by one of the passengers to watch a magic show. A magic show where no one claps and everyone seems pretty much disengaged.
Despite (maybe because of) the oddness of this story, I really liked it. And I like Dave Eggers's voice. You can check out his Q&A here. Here's a taste:
"But she had yet to see the Alaska of giants and gods. What she had seen so far did not feel like frontier. It felt like Kentucky, only colder and far more expensive. Where was the Alaska of magic and clarity and pure air? This place was choked with the haze of some far-off forest fire, and it was not majestic, no. It was cluttered and tough."
Someday I am going to read something more substantial by Dave Eggers. Maybe not right now, but someday. I say that quite often about New Yorker short story writers, don't I? Another reason I love short stories, getting a taste of so many writers and their work. Have you read a short story lately?