I’ve had a busy June, visiting libraries, taking my books to sales, and organising more events, so I didn’t read many books.
I started with Caroline Blakes’ murder mystery. I’ve met Caroline a few times now, and I picked this book up at the book fair in Scorton that was organised by the lovely people at Big Thinking Publishing.
Caroline Blake’s crime novel is a cosy murder mystery that reminded me in its style of Belinda Bauer’s ‘Exit’. The story is set in a Lancashire village in the 1970s. There is a lot of smoking, it feels like everyone smokes, a lot. Reading it made me so grateful for the indoor smoking ban, and how much I hated being around smokers when I was growing up. I’m having flashbacks …
Anyway, the story. Mrs Chadwick is a nasty piece of work, she bullies her adult son mercilessly and has no friends. When she’s found dead in her kitchen, surrounded by tater hash, there isn’t much mourning, and the main suspect seems to be her son, who can’t provide an alibi. Ah, but then there’s the vicar, who isn’t as clean cut as he seems (he’s a smoker too). When he’s taken in for questioning, gossip abounds. A fun read.
A re-read. This book was a gift from a friend, maybe a couple of decades ago, and I can’t read it or even think about it without thinking of her. Books are magical like this. I’ve read a shamefully low number of Tanith Lee books (this, and, long ago, The Birthgrave) and I intend to put this right. For a start, I had no idea that there was a sequel to this book!
‘The Silver Metal Lover’ is a simple coming of age novel with a sf background. Jane and her friends are the children of the ultra rich, cossetted and protected by all that wealth can bring. When Jane meets a robot who looks and acts like her ideal man, her world changes. The first time I read this book I cried, looking back I must have been particularly hormonal! Still, it’s a good story, and Janes’s relationships with her mother and her friends are well written.
I’ve been reading this book for most of my life. My adult life, certainly. Zenna Henderson is best known for her ‘The People’ stories, but this collection shows that there is a great range to her stories. There isn’t a dud in the collection. It mostly focuses on children, or adult / child interactions, although my favourite is a story about an old lady who is so ancient she’s become something of a family heirloom. ‘Walking Aunt Daid’ is one of those stories that I’ve read so many times it’s become a part of me.
I’d forgotten how truly terrifying some of these tales are. I’m fairly sure I’ve seen ‘Hush’, or at least the idea behind it, adapted for film or TV, but I may be wrong. Maybe it just summoned such strong visuals that I think I’ve seen it …
Edit – OK, I have a little more time now, so I’ll do a deeper dive. This book deserves it. The title story ‘The Anything Box’ is about imagination, its value, and how easily it can be quashed … but also, how it can be shared. ‘Subcommittee’ is a delight of a story, very much of its time, with ideas that have been well explored but are still very valid. Whilst the menfolk of two different species try to make a peace deal during a horrific war, the women and children secretly swap knitting patterns and learn each others’ games. Yes, it’s stereotypical, but the ideas are still there … ordinary people need to meet and learn that they have something in common. ‘Something Bright’ could be a People story, and is a companion piece to ‘Walking Aunt Daid’. There is such longing in this story, to leave a body that isn’t the right one and to escape to a real, brighter, life. I’ve already mentioned ‘Hush’, and the next story ‘Food to all Flesh’ is truly one of the saddest stories ever written. A man befriends an alien that lands near his home, and together they try out every possible foodstuff and non foodstuff in an attempt to nourish the alien. Eventually, the alien reveals that they have babies to feed … and one of the babies finds the one food that can nourish them.
‘Come on, Wagon’ again focuses on children, and how their talents are overlooked, how they grow up and turn their backs on their unique specialness.
And back to ‘Walking Aunt Daid’, which is hitting hard because you know, my copy of this book is old and waterstained and not very pretty. I was thinking of putting it in the recycling, because nobody else would want it … and then … ‘Why do we keep her?’ asked Ma. ‘She doesn’t die. She’s alive. What should we do? She’s no trouble. Not much, anyway.’ ‘Put her in a home somewhere.’ I suggested. ‘She’s in a home now,’ said Ma. So yeah. this books stays on the shelves. It convinced me all by itself.
Moving on – ‘The Substitute’ is about a boy with all his defences up, and the teacher who gets past them. Of course, this being Zenna Henderson, there’s a lot more to it. ‘The Grunder’ is way ahead of its time, tackling a toxic relationship from the point of view of the abusive partner, who so, so, wants to change his ways. It’s partly a shaggy dog story, partly folk magic, but it’s all feeling.
‘Things’ isn’t subtle at all, it’s too angry to be subtle. It’s about the destruction of lives and cultures by the obsessive need for, and addiction to, consumerism. It was written 65 years ago, that’s three generations ago …
‘Turn the Page’ is a story about stories, about what we tell ourselves about other people, and what we learn from the earliest tales that we are told. It’s very sad, but also very lovely.
‘Stevie and the Dark’ is a straight up horror story that King himself would be happy to claim. The power of a child’s belief is a wonderful thing.
‘And a Little Child’ in comparison, is pure sf. Every so often there’s a child with the clearness of sight to perceive what others merely glance at and accept.
‘The Last Step’ is the final story in the book, and is a perfect little sf / horror story.
In conclusion, fans of horror / sf / fantasy should all read this book. Repeatedly.
PS, my copy is staying here. It has a home.