[wiseman]

A very good tale, well written with witty dialogues. Not a noir, but something in the spirit
of "Murder she wrote". Featuring a gang of unfortunate bandits, a countryside full of
bizarre characters and the lookalike of Agatha Christie. What else?

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/d713jp0761xhdks/AACP-5oZKzozQf-CSxzHVp68a?dl=0

[bowers]

Many thanks, wiseman, for this and many past efforts! A ripping yarn, indeed! Cheers, Bowers

[wiseman]

You're welcome, Bowers.

[paw broon]

Got it.  I'll make a start as soon as I can and try to get it done before we go off for a few days next week.  Big birthday approaching at a rate of knots.  Don't whether to be happy or depressed.

[wiseman]

Happy, certainly happy. The alternative is to get old or you  know well what. Take your time and enjoy.

[bowers]

Happy birthday wishes, Paw! I agree with wiseman. After all, we didn't become the remarkably fine geezers we are today by being depressed! Birthday Cheers, Bowers

[paw broon]

Thanks, grazie, for the good advice.  I gave the same advice to my pal recently but I just couldn't seem to take it on board myself.  Typical.

[The Australian Panther]

I also have a big birthday milestone coming up, so I can relate. Many more happies Paw. I figure that its all gravy from here on in. So we should relax and enjoy it as much as possible.
Cheers!

[wiseman]

Since 22/2/2019 I am seventy years old. And I feel more childlike than ever. Better, I want to be like this. Senex puer, as the ancients said. Yes, I have my problems and believe that humanity is about to fall into an abyss, but today laughing is the better way to defeat the stupidity of Man and the malevolence of the gods.
Happy birthday, Paw

[paw broon]

Grazie mille, G.  Mi sento pi

[positronic1]

Since 22/2/2019 I am seventy years old. And I feel more childlike than ever. Better, I want to be like this. Senex puer, as the ancients said. Yes, I have my problems and believe that humanity is about to fall into an abyss, but today laughing is the better way to defeat the stupidity of Man and the malevolence of the gods.

I can identify (sixty-three, not quite there yet). Something Carl Sagan said about an endless sea of black infinity stretching out forever in all directions both in space and in time... Anyway, thankfully we have comic books and science fiction & fantasy to distract us from the unpleasant foreboding doom of it all and help us shrug it off for a while.

[wiseman]

Since 22/2/2019 I am seventy years old. And I feel more childlike than ever. Better, I want to be like this. Senex puer, as the ancients said. Yes, I have my problems and believe that humanity is about to fall into an abyss, but today laughing is the better way to defeat the stupidity of Man and the malevolence of the gods.

I can identify (sixty-three, not quite there yet). Something Carl Sagan said about an endless sea of black infinity stretching out forever in all directions both in space and in time... Anyway, thankfully we have comic books and science fiction & fantasy to distract us from the unpleasant foreboding doom of it all and help us shrug it off for a while.

Well, Positronic 1, I'm more on the side of A. C. Clarke and Kubrick, you know "2001" and "Childhood's end" (which is the book of my life). Perhaps infinity isn't neither so black nor so endless, after all.

[wiseman]

Grazie mille, G.  Mi sento pi

[bowers]

Can hardly wait for that one, wiseman! Cheers, Bowers

[wiseman]

Er- I meant number 43, actually (don't worry: also 42 is on its way). I've at least 20 more story to edit. A work for all this year and a bit of the next. The problem are the stories before 1943. I have the Italian edition, which is not of great quality, but something could be done. But it is impossible without the English originals. So what?

[positronic1]

Since 22/2/2019 I am seventy years old. And I feel more childlike than ever. Better, I want to be like this. Senex puer, as the ancients said. Yes, I have my problems and believe that humanity is about to fall into an abyss, but today laughing is the better way to defeat the stupidity of Man and the malevolence of the gods.

I can identify (sixty-three, not quite there yet). Something Carl Sagan said about an endless sea of black infinity stretching out forever in all directions both in space and in time... Anyway, thankfully we have comic books and science fiction & fantasy to distract us from the unpleasant foreboding doom of it all and help us shrug it off for a while.

Well, Positronic 1, I'm more on the side of A. C. Clarke and Kubrick, you know "2001" and "Childhood's end" (which is the book of my life). Perhaps infinity isn't neither so black nor so endless, after all.

Thought I'd covered that with my remark about "thankfully we have ... science fiction ... to distract us ... and help us shrug it off for a while". Clarke/Kubrick/2001 etc. = science fiction, no? It's all matters of scale when you come right down to it. You can choose to ignore the overwhelming mathematics of probability and the immensities of distance and time, and just focus on the local, ephemeral phenomena and ignore the rest of the unpleasantness like entropy. What do we care anyway, we'll be dead in another 20 or 30-odd planetary orbits, so it won't matter to us. Time marches on. Never lose that "sense of wonder" though -- it's all we've got, really. Meaning is where you find it, and all that.