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Dave's Reviews > The Case of the Somewhat Mythic Sword
The Case of the Somewhat Mythic Sword
by
by
Short. Very short.
But satisfying.
In less than 30 pages (depending on your font size) or one long scrolling internet page (no thank you, but if one is curious… Case of the Somewhat Mythic Sword at Tor.com ), Nix, the master storyteller, manages to introduce an alt history London complete with Arthurian legends seemingly come-to-life, two intriguing and almost fully fleshed (for the space afforded) protagonists along with a plot that moves quickly, if a bit spottily, to a triumphant and wistful resolution.
Oh…and the word “crysophilist.”
Not sure what prompted Mr. Nix to write this short story, but I hope he explores this setting and these two characters…all of which lean heavily on British Gothic and mystery novels of the late 19th century…in much more depth.
The Soundtrack
Deliverance (Live)
A Forest (Live)
The Cutter (Live)
But satisfying.
In less than 30 pages (depending on your font size) or one long scrolling internet page (no thank you, but if one is curious… Case of the Somewhat Mythic Sword at Tor.com ), Nix, the master storyteller, manages to introduce an alt history London complete with Arthurian legends seemingly come-to-life, two intriguing and almost fully fleshed (for the space afforded) protagonists along with a plot that moves quickly, if a bit spottily, to a triumphant and wistful resolution.
Oh…and the word “crysophilist.”
Not sure what prompted Mr. Nix to write this short story, but I hope he explores this setting and these two characters…all of which lean heavily on British Gothic and mystery novels of the late 19th century…in much more depth.
The Soundtrack
Deliverance (Live)
A Forest (Live)
The Cutter (Live)
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Reading Progress
April 13, 2023
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Started Reading
April 13, 2023
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April 13, 2023
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He might mean no offence, but there was considerable doubt evident in his gaze, and some suspicion.
”Everyone wants Sherlock,” replied Sir Magnus Holmes with a heartfelt sigh. “However, I am here at his behest.”
Susan Shrike sniffed at the mention of Doctor Watson, indicating her opinion of the man’s medical skills. He was very much of the old school and quite out of date as far as she was concerned.
This was true, after a fashion. Sir Magnus’s primary area of knowledge was arcane practices, many of them necessarily conducted out of the sight of ordinary folk, and so very often underground. From necessity he had become more conversant than he would have liked with caves, hypogea, catacombs, Mithraeums, vaults, crypts, cellars, tunnels and all the other subterranean lairs and dwellings of those whose delvings were sorcerous as well as earthly. He was also quite knowledgeable about sacred groves and the like.Uh…I didn’t have to look up “caves”. ”Hypogea”?
”The hinitial hestablishment was one of them beer monks’ places, put up in the first William’s time, and as my grand-dad ’ad ’ad it they weren’t the first ’ere, oh no, there’s been beer ’ere since druid days, and Romans and all, some say.”“Cistercians, I fancy,” muttered Sir Magnus to Susan, correctly divining the question forming on her lips concerning “beer monks”.
I’m with you Ms. Shrike.
I obviously don’t know my Catholic monastic orders well enough.
Is Opus Dei an order? Is it even real? Curse you, Dan Brown.
It had taken all the genius of Mycroft, some detective work from Sherlock, and the arcane talents of Sir Magnus and several others to defeat Krongeitz.Ahhh…yes. The Dread Lord Krongeitz (the British really struggled with everything German in the late 19th century…you would think that Napoleon and the French would have still loomed large in their national memory)…illegitimate spawn of Voldemort.
He could see extremely well in the dark, as a matter of fact, but darkness of the kind that would be found in a cellar after, say, a single candle was extinguished, might trigger an unpleasant change in Sir Magnus, though he was mostly better.“…mostly better…”? A nod to The Holy Grail? 🙂
”Ah, there you have it,” whispered Magnus infuriatingly. “It is all about the sword.”
Men and their swords! Can’t stop playing with them.
”Norbert arsks ’im what ’e’s up to, but ’e don’t talk until Norbert gets up close and then ’e says foreign for ‘wine’—which Norbert knows on account of his Navy times in the Mediterabeum—and ’e ’ands over a coin or two.”Thank goodness for Norbert’s language ability…a gift from his “Navy times in the Mediterabeum”. 😂
”Hmmm. A Byzantine ἱστάμɛνον, which is to say, a histamenon,” remarked the baronet, holding it up close to his left eye. “Of Isaac I Komnenos. Here, take it and touch it against one of the iron hoops of that barrel.”Now, Nix is showing off.
Who does that much research for a single line of dialogue in a de gratis short story.
All this, combined with typical British reticence to discuss their relationship and its problems, led them to behave in such a repressed way to each other that everyone else around them knew immediately they were in love.The stage is set for unrequited romance…the most delicious kind of romance ever since Petrarca. (Homer set a very distasteful precedent for literary romance. Poor Helen.)
…chrysophilist…
???
It’s actually a real word, and my guess…”lover of butterflies”…wasn’t even close.
And Susan too, in all the ways that mattered.
“Where do you keep the yellow pill, Susan?”
”We was ’oping for t’other ’Olmes to take an interest,” said the publican.
So much done with this story-opening line of dialogue. Simply brilliant. Nix’s openers provide huge hooks.