Welcome to the latest in our series of audio adventures, Tales for Our Time, and Part Three of my serialisation of Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. We're always happy to hear from Mark Steyn Club members, and Thomas Carey, a First Day Founding Member, has been having a good time of late:
What a great week to be a Mark Steyn Club member! Really enjoyed the Q&A this week, and Heart of Darkness for the new Tales of Our Time, and your comments on the anniversary of Butler. Great content, much to ponder from Epstein, to the Belgian Congo, to Secret Service buffoonery. Thank you Mark.
My pleasure, Thomas. In tonight's episode, our protagonist sails for the Dark Continent and comes across the 1890s version of shock-and-awe:
Once, I remember, we came upon a man-of-war anchored off the coast. There wasn't even a shed there, and she was shelling the bush. It appears the French had one of their wars going on thereabouts. Her ensign dropped limp like a rag; the muzzles of the long six-inch guns stuck out all over the low hull; the greasy, slimy swell swung her up lazily and let her down, swaying her thin masts. In the empty immensity of earth, sky, and water, there she was, incomprehensible, firing into a continent. Pop, would go one of the six-inch guns; a small flame would dart and vanish, a little white smoke would disappear, a tiny projectile would give a feeble screech—and nothing happened. Nothing could happen. There was a touch of insanity in the proceeding, a sense of lugubrious drollery in the sight; and it was not dissipated by somebody on board assuring me earnestly there was a camp of natives—he called them enemies!—hidden out of sight somewhere.
Members of The Mark Steyn Club can hear Part Three of our adventure simply by clicking here and logging-in. Parts One and Two can be found here.
If you've only joined the Steyn Club in recent days and missed our earlier serials (not only Joseph Conrad's The Secret Agent but also Conan Doyle's The Tragedy of the Korosko, Baroness Orczy's The Scarlet Pimpernel, Anthony Hope's The Prisoner of Zenda, Kipling, Kafka, Dickens, Gogol, Jane Austen, Jack London, Scott Fitzgerald, P G Wodehouse and more), you can find them all on our easy-to-access Netflix-style Tales for Our Time home page.
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. The Club is now in its ninth year, and helps support all our content - whether in print, audio or video - and keep it out there in the world for everyone. In return, membership confers, aside from Tales for Our Time, a few other benefits:
~Exclusive Steyn Store member pricing on over 40 books, mugs, T-shirts, and other products;
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~Transcript and audio versions of Mark's Mailbox, SteynPosts, and our other video content;
~My video series of classic poetry;
~Priority booking for the upcoming sixth Mark Steyn Club Cruise: we'll be sailing aboard the beautiful Queen Mary 2 from Quebec City to New York via the spectacular Saguenay Fjord;
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To become a member of The Mark Steyn Club, please click here - and, for a friend or family member, don't forget that Gift Membership. And please join me tomorrow for Part Four of Heart of Darkness.
