Just Finished Reading: The Infernal Device by Michael Kurland (FP: 1979) [259pp] 

It was an opportunity that was hard to turn down. American journalist Benjamin Barret would be at the test of Turkey’s latest weapon of war – a submersible that would be the envy of the world. But just as the sea trials began off the exotic city of Constantinople, tragedy struck, and a huge explosion sent the craft to the bottom. Still dazed by the day's events, Benjamin is arrested for murder and espionage, and it sentenced to death. With no friends and with his own embassy now against him he is forced to face his own demise until an unlikely saviour makes his appearance. Professor James Moriarty is there to make Barret an offer he simply can’t refuse – if the journalist consents to give the professor two years of his life in his service – no questions asked, then he will ensure Barret's captivity comes to an end and this he is spirited out of the country. With no other option he says yes and awaits his salvation. Back in London and now working for the professor Barret is given a special task suitable for one with his skill set. He is to use his journalist contacts and experience to help Moriarty to track down a very dangerous man indeed – a rogue Russian agent committed to one vision, to force the British Empire to engage Russia in all-out war. To do that he must goad the British into action by creating an atrocity that simply cannot be ignored. Only one problem stands in the way of Moriarty – his long time enemy and self-proclaimed nemesis: Sherlock Holmes. 

I’ve been looking into and slowly accumulating what I’m calling ‘Sherlock Holmes Adjacent’ (SHA) works for a while now but have delayed reading any of them until I finished re-reading the original works. This is the first one. One of the things that surprised me from my recent re-reads is just how little Moriarty is mentioned in the Sherlock stories despite him being built up as Holmes’ arch-enemy. Rather amusingly, there’s a comment – from Moriarty to Holmes – in this novel on that point exactly where Moriarty chides Holmes on his fixation with the Professor as some kind of ‘Napoleon of Crime’ despite being nothing of the sort. This is summed up by the quote: He who has one enemy will meet him everywhere.  In fact, Moriarty in this world is Sherlocks mirror-image as a ‘consulting criminal’ advising (though not controlling) criminals in their nefarious endeavours merely as a means of gaining money to continue his scientific research.  

Well written, full of interesting characters (including a more than adequate rendition of Holmes himself) and with a delightful slant on the genre, this was a fun read from beginning to end. I understand that there are four more books in the series, and I’ll be searching them out. Recommended to all Holmes fans. More SHA works to come – modern, strange and Classic.              

To say that we have 'mixed' weights & measures.... is a *bit* of an understatement....! [lol]

Happy Birthday: Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan; born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Considered one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his nearly 70-year career. With an estimated more than 125 million records sold worldwide, he is one of the best-selling musicians of all time. Dylan added increasingly sophisticated lyrical techniques to the folk music of the early 1960s, infusing it "with the intellectualism of classic literature and poetry". His lyrics incorporated political, social, and philosophical influences, defying pop music conventions and appealing to the burgeoning counterculture.

Dylan was born in St. Louis County, Minnesota. He moved to New York City in 1961 to pursue a career in music. Following his 1962 debut album, Bob Dylan, featuring traditional folk and blues material, he released his breakthrough album The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan (1963), which included "Girl from the North Country" and "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall", adapting older folk songs. His songs "Blowin' in the Wind" (1963) and "The Times They Are a-Changin'" (1964) became anthems for the civil rights and antiwar movements. In 1965 and 1966, Dylan created controversy among folk purists when he used electrically amplified rock instrumentation for his albums Bringing It All Back Home, Highway 61 Revisited (both 1965), and Blonde on Blonde (1966). His six-minute single "Like a Rolling Stone" (1965) expanded commercial and creative boundaries in popular music.

In July 1966, a motorcycle crash led Dylan to cease touring for seven years. During this period, he recorded a large body of songs with members of the Band which produced the album The Basement Tapes (1975). Dylan explored country music and rural themes on the albums John Wesley Harding (1967), Nashville Skyline (1969) and New Morning (1970). He gained critical attention for Blood on the Tracks (1975), and Time Out of Mind (1997), the latter of which earned him the Grammy Award for Album of the Year. Dylan still releases music and has toured continuously since the late 1980s on what has become known as the Never Ending Tour. Since 1994, Dylan has published nine books of paintings and drawings, and his work has been exhibited in major art galleries. His life has been profiled in several documentaries and the biopic A Complete Unknown (2024).

Dylan's numerous accolades include an Academy Award, ten Grammy Awards and a Golden Globe Award. He was honored with the Kennedy Center Honors in 1997, National Medal of Arts in 2009, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012. Dylan has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame. He was awarded a Pulitzer Prize special citation in 2008, and the 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature "for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition".

Thankfully, my hay-fever is 100x better than it was back in my 30's and 40's. These days its just itchy eyes and random sneezes. But I did honestly *think* about wearing a FULL 'gas mask' at times! 

Just Finished Reading: Television Was a Baby Crawling Toward That Death Chamber by Allen Ginsberg (FP: 2006) [55p] 

Coincidentally, this is the second booklet of poetry in a row from my sequential picks from the recently purchased Penguin Classics boxsets. As previously stated, I am not now, nor have I ever really been, anything approaching a fan of poetry. This slim volume has not changed that opinion. Being far more modern than my previous read – covering the poet's output from 1947-1997 – this was certainly more relatable to than the Victorian poems I read a few weeks back and covered far more ‘modern’ topics such as sex, drugs and (no doubt) rock ‘n roll.  

Being a ‘Beat’ poet, I did feel that the booklet should be read whilst slightly drunk, slightly high and probably with some lightly tapping bongos in the background. Ginsberg was a radical of the period and (from Wiki) “vigorously opposed militarism, economic materialism, and sexual repression, and he embodied various aspects of this counterculture with his views on drugs, sex, multiculturalism, hostility to bureaucracy, and openness to Eastern religions”. This philosophy is very evident in his poems which drip with criticism of American culture and lifestyle. Both television and consumerism come in for some very harsh criticism. The last poem in the booklet - ‘C’mon Pigs of Western Civilization Eat More Grease’ - is a case in point, relentlessly pointing to the excessive eating habits of Americans especially as others around the world go hungry. 

There’s LOTS of pop culture and political references here and I’m afraid that most of them went somewhat over my head. I’m reasonably familiar with some US pop culture – especially post 50’s - but I’d have had to spend some time looking up things to even start to understand some of the poems in this collection. 

Whilst not exactly enjoyable reading, I wasn’t sorry that I have finally been introduced to one of the godfathers of Beat. If you’re curious about it/him this might be a useful entry point.  

Happy International Tea Day. Go make yourself a nice cuppa.... 

Well, things like Cubism and Dadaism emerged just before or during the Great War and exploded across the world shortly after, in no small part to the cultural shock of the war itself, in the 'Between the Wars' period rather than the Second World War... Personally, although I do prefer representative art (as regular viewers will no doubt be aware), I do like *some* modern art (or avant-garde) very much indeed. One of my favourite pieces - which I think is a work of pure genius is 'Nude Descending Staircase No 2' by Marcel Duchamp. The first time I saw it I thought it stunning, especially as it was from 1912. Modern art might seem 'easy' compared to previous works... but it's just different. It's still art.