Welcome to Part Two of Mystery in White by Jefferson Farjeon, our latest audio adventure in Tales for Our Time and the first in this season's Christmas capers.
Keith Farrell, an English member of The Mark Steyn Club, was so thrilled by the introduction he's not quite ready to advance to the tale itself:
Haven't started the actual story yet; the intro is classic Mark and bears listening to again.
In tonight's episode of our "Christmas crime story", a quartet of passengers abandon their snowbound train on Christmas Eve - and find themselves plunged into white-out conditions:
While crossing a second field the snow began again. Each of the four travellers wondered whether to suggest going back, and each lacked the moral courage to put the wonder into words.
The second field sloped down into a small valley. Suddenly David gave a shout. He had ploughed a little way ahead.
"The road, people, the road!" he called.
They overtook him to find him staring disconsolately at a long, narrow ditch. Camouflaged by the snow, it had continued the story of deception...
"Which way now?" asked Jessie, struggling against panic.
They stared around. The increasing snow had almost obliterated the marks of their predecessors. Just beyond the ditch they were being rapidly wiped out.
"What about back?" proposed David, voicing sense at last.
They turned. The slope they had descended was scarcely visible through the curtain of whirling white, and while they stood hesitating their own footprints became lost in the new covering..
What to do? Where to go? To hear Mark read the second episode of Mystery in White, please click here and log-in. If you missed Part One, you'll find that here.
~If November 30th is too early and you prefer non-Yuletide diversions, do check out our brace of Orwellian adaptations - Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four - or even a contemporary inversion of a classic, retooled for our wretched times, by Steyn himself. Whatever your taste, we have plenty of other yarns in all genres over on our Tales for Our Time home page.
Tales for Our Time started as an experimental feature we introduced as a bonus for Mark Steyn Club members, and, as you know, Mark said if it was a total stinkeroo, we'd eighty-six the thing and speak no more about it. But we're thrilled to say it's proved very popular, and and we now have quite an archive. If you're a Club member and you incline more to the stinkeroo side of things, give it your best in the Comments Section below.
We launched The Mark Steyn Club seven-and-a-half years ago, and we're truly grateful to all those members across the globe who've signed up to be a part of it - from Fargo to Fiji, Vancouver to Vanuatu, Cook County to the Cook Islands, West Virginia to the West Midlands. If you've enjoyed our monthly Steyn Club audio adventures and you're looking for a present for a fellow fan of classic fiction, we hope you'll consider our special Club Gift Membership. Aside from Tales for Our Time, The Mark Steyn Club does come with other benefits:
~Exclusive Steyn Store member pricing on over 40 books, mugs, T-shirts, and other products;
~The opportunity to engage in live Clubland Q&A sessions with Mark, such as this coming Wednesday's;
~Transcript and audio versions of The Mark Steyn Show, Mark's Mailbox, and our other video content;
~Steyn's video series of classic poetry;
~Booking for special members-only events such as The Mark Steyn Christmas Show (assuming he ever healthy enough for such extravaganzas);
~Advance booking for his live appearances around the world (likewise);
~Customized email alerts for new content in your areas of interest;
~and the opportunity to support our print, audio and video ventures as they wing their way around the planet.
To become a member of The Mark Steyn Club, please click here - and don't forget that special Gift Membership. As soon as you join, you'll get access not only to Mystery in White but to all our other audio adventures.
