Anthony Boucher; _Rocket to the Morgue_ characters; other stories

Adam Funk

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Mar 6, 2015, 11:45:05 AM3/6/15

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Last year I read & enjoyed _Rocket to the Morgue_. I got the
impression while reading it that the detective & the nun had been in a
previous story; Wikipedia confirms this:

The novel features two investigators from Boucher/Holmes' earlier
locked door mystery Nine Times Nine: Sister Ursula of the convent
of the fictitious Sisters of Martha of Bethany, and police
detective Terence "Terry" Marshall.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocket_to_the_Morgue

I see that _The Compleat Boucher_ anthology is reasonably available
2ndhand on the WWW, but it only seems to cover his SF & fantasy short
stories. Are they good too?

Is anyone aware of a relatively recently printed collection of his
mysteries? (My copy of _RttM_ was an old & rather worn paperback when
I got it.)

(I know this question isn't mainly about SF, but I originally posted
it in another group & was advised to ask here since the author in
question also wrote SF.)

--
Unit tests are like the boy who cried wolf.

Lawrence Watt-Evans

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Mar 6, 2015, 12:07:34 PM3/6/15

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On 2015-03-06 11:34:02 -0500, Adam Funk said:

> I see that _The Compleat Boucher_ anthology is reasonably available
> 2ndhand on the WWW, but it only seems to cover his SF & fantasy short
> stories. Are they good too?

They're excellent -- or at least, I thought so when I read them during
roughly the period 1959-1983. I haven't looked at them in decades and
they may not have aged well.

--
Now available: Tom Derringer & the Aluminum Airship
http://www.amazon.com/Derringer-Aluminum-Airship-Lawrence-Watt-Evans/dp/1619910098/

Kevrob

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Mar 6, 2015, 6:06:54 PM3/6/15

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On Friday, March 6, 2015 at 12:07:34 PM UTC-5, Lawrence Watt-Evans wrote:
> On 2015-03-06 11:34:02 -0500, Adam Funk said:
>
> > I see that _The Compleat Boucher_ anthology is reasonably available
> > 2ndhand on the WWW, but it only seems to cover his SF & fantasy short
> > stories. Are they good too?
>
> They're excellent -- or at least, I thought so when I read them during
> roughly the period 1959-1983. I haven't looked at them in decades and
> they may not have aged well.

I wonder if that title inspired these guys:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocket_from_the_Tombs *

and by extension...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocket_from_the_Crypt

Those names sound like a cross between EC's SF and Horror titles.
Ascended Fanboys, obviously.

Kevin R

*[/quote]
Q. Where does the band's name come from?
A. In high school my buddy, Jon Luoma, and I made an 8mm stop action film about the invasion of earth by prune people from outer space. Clearly influenced by Zappa - pretty standard thing for high school students of the time (1970). The name of the film was The Day The Earth Met The Rocket From The Tombs. Seemed like a pretty good name for a band when I got around to thinking about such a thing.

[/quote] from:
http://www.ubuprojex.com/rftt/rfttfaq.html (David Thomas, I think)

Ahasuerus

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Mar 6, 2015, 9:38:00 PM3/6/15

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On Friday, March 6, 2015 at 12:07:34 PM UTC-5, Lawrence Watt-Evans wrote:

> On 2015-03-06 11:34:02 -0500, Adam Funk said:
>
> > I see that _The Compleat Boucher_ anthology is reasonably
> > available 2ndhand on the WWW, but it only seems to cover his SF
> > & fantasy short stories. Are they good too?
>
> They're excellent -- or at least, I thought so when I read them during
> roughly the period 1959-1983. I haven't looked at them in decades and
> they may not have aged well.

The thing about _The Compleat Boucher_ is that it is *complete*.
Which means that it includes not only his classic stories like "The
Quest for Saint Aquin" (still as good as ever) but also everything
else that he wrote, some of it fairly minor. I don't think Boucher
ever wrote actively bad stories, but some are better than others.

Also, some of his SF, e.g. certain Fergus O'Breen tales and "Mr.
Lupescu", are simultaneously mysteries and/or crime stories.

Dorothy J Heydt

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Mar 7, 2015, 12:45:03 AM3/7/15

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In article <qg1psbx...@news.ducksburg.com>,

The collection of Boucher's non-novel-length mysteries is called
_Exeunt Murderers,_ Carbondale: Southern Illinois University
Press, 1983, 0-8093-1099-6. I don't suppose it's still *in
print*, but you could search Amazon and Abebooks and so forth and
see if you can find a copy.

It contains nine Nick Noble stories, two Sister Ursula stories,
eleven miscellaneous, and a checklist of the fiction of Anthony
Boucher.

--
Dorothy J. Heydt
Vallejo, California
djheydt at gmail dot com
Should you wish to email me, you'd better use the gmail edress.
Kithrup's all spammy and hotmail's been hacked.

Adam Funk

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Mar 10, 2015, 10:30:08 AM3/10/15

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Neat!

--
I used to be better at logic problems, before I just dumped
them all into TeX and let Knuth pick out the survivors.
-- plorkwort

Adam Funk

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Mar 18, 2015, 10:00:07 AM3/18/15

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On 2015-03-07, Dorothy J Heydt wrote:

> The collection of Boucher's non-novel-length mysteries is called
> _Exeunt Murderers,_ Carbondale: Southern Illinois University
> Press, 1983, 0-8093-1099-6. I don't suppose it's still *in
> print*, but you could search Amazon and Abebooks and so forth and
> see if you can find a copy.
>
> It contains nine Nick Noble stories, two Sister Ursula stories,
> eleven miscellaneous, and a checklist of the fiction of Anthony
> Boucher.

Sounds interesting; thanks.

--
A book lying idle on a shelf is wasted ammunition.
--- Henry Miller

Adam Funk

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Mar 18, 2015, 10:00:10 AM3/18/15

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OK, I'll probably get that compilation. TBH, I hadn't heard of
Boucher except by coïncidence a few years ago when I came across him &
_Rocket to the Morgue_ in a book about Jack Parsons (an occultist &
rocket scientist who knew Hubbard, Heinlein, Crowley, &c.). But I've
been reading Amis's _New Maps of Hell_ recently & it mentions
Boucher's SF.

--
You measure democracy by the freedom it gives its dissidents,
not the freedom it gives its assimilated conformists.
--- Abbie Hoffman