Thank you for all your kind comments upon our seventy-ninth Tale for Our Time. There are two ways to enjoy our audio adventures: you can tune in nightly, twenty minutes before you lower your lamp - or you can save them up for a good old binge-listen on a long car journey fleeing Puerto Vallarta.
Meanwhile, welcome to Part Six of our wintry entertainment, The Quest of the Sacred Slipper, a Mohammedan caper by Sax Rohmer. Pat Smith, a Pennsylvania Steyn Clubber, wonders if Arthur Ward (Mr Rohmer's real name) and I might not be twins separated at birth:
Hi Mark,
Are you sure you and Mr. Ward are not related? You both have Irish roots and Mr. Ward's language is identical to yours. Such as, "the dark business worthy of the middle ages," "a group of eastern fanatics at large in England," "This survival of the dark ages must be stamped out. However just a cause may be, secret murder is not permissible." I'm sure Mr.Ward would have called out secret (or not so secret in the current time) rape as well had Hassan of Aleppo ran a grooming gang. Even if you aren't related,you can't deny a certain kinship.
Well, by those standards, most chaps would have shared "a certain kinship" with Sax Rohmer a century ago. It is a melancholy reflection on the times that it is somewhat rarer in the third decade of our no longer new millennium.
In tonight's episode of our yarn, another night full of "dark business" from the Middle Ages is about to begin:
All that I knew of the weird group of fanatics—survivals of a dim and evil past—who must now be watching this cottage as bloodlustful devotees watch a shrine violated, burst upon my mind. I peopled the still blackness with lurking assassins, armed with the murderous knowledge of by-gone centuries, armed with invisible weapons which struck down from afar, supernaturally.
I glanced toward the corner of the room where the safe stood, reliquary of a worthless thing for which much blood had been spilled.
Members of The Mark Steyn Club can hear Part Six of our tale simply by clicking here and logging-in. Earlier episodes can be found here.
We'll be back here with Part Seven of The Quest of the Sacred Slipper tomorrow evening.
If you're minded to join us in The Mark Steyn Club, you're more than welcome. You can find more information here. And, if you have a chum you think might enjoy Tales for Our Time (so far, we've covered Conan Doyle, Baroness Orczy, H G Wells, Dickens, Forster, Kipling, Kafka, Gogol, Jack London, Jane Austen, P G Wodehouse, Robert Louis Stevenson and more), we've introduced a special Gift Membership that lets you sign up a pal for the Steyn Club. You'll find more details here. Oh, and don't forget, over at the Steyn store, our Steynamite Special Offers on books, CDs, and much more.
