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~Thank you for all your comments, pro and con, on our latest Tale for Our Time. In Part Twenty-Three of Lord of the World, a nocturnal volor flight over the Alps takes a dramatic turn:
Then like a stone the car dropped, and Percy clutched at the rail before him to steady the terrible sensation of falling into emptiness. He could hear behind him the crash of crockery, the bumping of heavy bodies, and as the car again checked on its wide wings, a rush of footsteps broke out and a cry or two of dismay. Outside, but high and far away, the hooting went on; the air was full of it, and in a flash he recognised that it could not be one or ten or twenty cars, but at least a hundred that had answered the call, and that somewhere overhead were hooting and flapping.
But why would a hundred flying machines be heading south through the night?
Members of The Mark Steyn Club can hear me read Part Twenty-Three of our adventure simply by clicking here and logging-in. Earlier episodes can be found here.
If you recall our dissatisfied customer from yesterday, well, this may be shaping up as the greatest divide between listeners in six years - or as South Carolina Steyn Clubber Larry Durham reminds us:
Riddle of the Sands says hello.
On the other hand, we are getting some pushback against the naysayers. Steve in Manhattan writes:
I regret to hear that some Steyn Club folks are not gripped by this projected world of the 21st century as imagined by a British priest writing in 1907. I, for one, am going anxiously from one cliffhanger to the next. And as to the plot to blow up Westminster Abbey—I smell a rat.
From the English Home Counties, Alison thinks she knows why some listeners remain un-gripped:
I continue to consider this a very clever, prophetic tale. We have arrived at a period of history very similar to the one Benson predicted, facing some of the same adversaries and exactly the same threat from globalism. Unfortunately, the excellent science fiction element in the book has waned and the (Roman) churchiness of (Catholic convert) Benson has come to the fore.
This is rather offputting because we all know the Cardinals and Pope are wasting their misguided effort. Any sensible church would tell its disciples to 'Flee to the mountains, trusting in God alone'. Leaders with any compassion would not summon the devout to send them out among ravening wolves like medieval monks and nuns, to end up being thrown down sewers by brainwashed pagans.
It's obviously all heading for complete disaster for the totally misguided and over rigid Catholic leadershp.
Steady on, Alison. Like X-Men 37, it may be all turned around by the final forty-minute CGI battle scene.
If you've only joined our club recently and missed our earlier serials (Conan Doyle's The Tragedy of the Korosko, H G Wells's The Time Machine, George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four, plus Kipling, Dickens, Gogol, Kafka, Conrad, Baroness Orczy, Jane Austen, John Buchan, L M Montgomery, Scott Fitzgerald, Victor Hugo and more), you can find them all here in an easily accessible Netflix-style tile format.
If you have friends who might appreciate Tales for Our Time, we have a special Steyn Club Gift Membership that lets them in on that and all the other fun in The Mark Steyn Club. To become a member, please click here.
Please join me tomorrow for Part Twenty-Four of Lord of the World.
