Programming note: If you missed Steyn's Song of the Week earlier today on Serenade Radio because you were watching the Taliban sweep into the Kabul presidential palace, our show repeats on Monday at 5.30am UK time - that's 9.30pm Sunday North American Pacific time, or about three hours from now. You can listen to the show from anywhere on the planet right here.
Meanwhile, welcome to Part Thirty-Six of our latest audio entertainment: a summer diversion by Jack London, Burning Daylight. The slow-burn seduction techniques of our hero are beginning to try sorely our listeners. A Mark Steyn Club member from England, John Lewis, writes:
Enjoyable as ever even if I can hear the voice of Jane Austen: 'For heaven's sake get on with it you two.'
Yeah, but whose fault is that? Ontario Steyn Clubber Lynn Foster knows:
For God's sake man, get your hand out of your pocket and get that honking big diamond on her hand...yer killing me..!
On the other hand, Florida Steyn Clubber Jan Schiebout lays the blame elsewhere:
At this juncture I no longer feel any sympathy for Dede, and feel sorry for Burning. Women who play with a man this long are either cruel or manipulative. If her answer isn't 'yes' or 'later', then she had no heart for this flawed, yet kind man. What does she want?
Oh, my. In tonight's episode of Burning Daylight, our hero tries a somewhat eccentric pitch to Dede:
I never went after a woman before in my life, all reports to the contrary not withstanding. The stuff you read about me in the papers and books, about me being a lady-killer, is all wrong. There's not an iota of truth in it. I guess I've done more than my share of card-playing and whiskey-drinking, but women I've let alone. There was a woman that killed herself, but I didn't know she wanted me that bad or else I'd have married her—not for love, but to keep her from killing herself. She was the best of the boiling, but I never gave her any encouragement.
Er, okay. Members of The Mark Steyn Club can hear Part Thirty-Six of our tale simply by clicking here and logging-in. Earlier episodes can be found here.
Across most of the world, there's not much going on in the way of shows, films, concerts... In that respect, it would be hard to tell the difference if the Taliban were to take over. That being so, we hope you'll be back here tomorrow for Part Thirty-Seven of Burning Daylight. You can listen to our tale episodically twenty minutes before you lower your lamp, or save it up for an almighty binge-listen on a long car journey as you flee your looted downtown.
If you're minded to join us in The Mark Steyn Club, you're more than welcome. You can find more information here. And, if you have a chum you think might enjoy Tales for Our Time (so far, we've covered Conan Doyle, Baroness Orczy, Dickens, Forster, Conrad, Kipling, Kafka, Gogol, George Orwell, Scott Fitzgerald, Robert Louis Stevenson and more), we've introduced a special Gift Membership that lets you sign up a pal for the Steyn Club. You'll find more details here. Oh, and don't forget, over at the Steyn store, our Steynamite Special Offers on books, CDs, and much more.