The Way-Out Wild West

                       by Lyn McConchie

     This is a collection of stories by Lyn McConchie dealing with the West in the USA not as it was but as Lyn has imagined it to have been. 

     Here there is some steam punk, a touch of the supernatural and more than hints of outer space activity on Earth. 

     The cover is a perfect illustration of what one might expect to come across inside these tales. Yes there are life and death moments. Yes there are mechanical horses. Yes time does play its role in a particular story and yes there is a woman within with extraordinary powers. 

     The stories may be fanciful but they are grounded in Lyn's own knowledge of farming her New Zealand property as well as her travels to the USA and also Mexico.  Lyn knows about horsemanship and has cattle, hens, geese and a cat on her land. She has quite a collection of books including novels from around the world. She also has an extensive understanding of weapons including firearms she can put to great use in her writing. 

      Of the stories the one that I liked most was Harry's Bad Man. It touched upon life and death matters. It was about a strange pack of near humans with their own unique sense of justice.  

      There was The Looking-Glass Girl in which I re-discover that, in the past, inheritance was not always divided up evenly between men and women. The women tended to get less or nothing at all because it was once viewed that a woman would be provided for by her husband and so would require less. I admit this was the thought of my own grandmother when she made out her will. I am glad times have changed. 

          There was Before All This Modern Stuff in which an evil man, sick of the present, journey's back in time only to face his past misdeeds head on. 

           Firedancer is about a gifted woman who is considered by some to be a witch and by others a potential saviour. 

           All considered, a brilliant collection.    

 

                         CATS, CRIMES and 

                          NEW ZEALAND, AMERICAN 

                          and AUSTRALIAN WRITERS!

     Lyn McConchie, a New Zealand writer with her own farm in the heart of the main north island of New Zealand, has long time been a cat lover. It shows in many of her stories and is definitely not absent in this collection of four stories titled Sherlock Holmes: Catalyst. 

     She opens with Something the Cat Dragged In which introduces the reader to both Mandalay the cat and his owner Miss Emily Jackson. How a cat fond of salmon might save a life in his scrounging you would have to read this intriguing tale.

     In Cat with a Vested Interest we have Mandalay bringing home part of a vest and thus prompting an investigation. There is a dead woman and a young life only just saved because of the cat and Doctor Watson's actions. 

     My favourite of the four is Cat with Enough Rope in which Mandalay brings back to Miss Emily a most unusual creature and thus begins a circus mystery. What animal you say? A grand female alpaca. In recent years the breeding of alpacas in both Australia and New Zealand has grown in popularity. In fact, not far from Lyn's farm she has a neighbour with alpacas so when she writes about them she knows what she is talking about. In this story there is also spy versus spy which, in this case, is fun.

     Pinned to a Crime doesn't take Mandalay too far from home to create a mystery for Holmes and Doctor Watson to solve. In fact it is a small treasure found at Miss Emily's home with the potential to do much damage to existing reputations. 

     Catalyst is a Wildside publication released in 2016. 

     Lyn's fondness for cats is well established as I hope is my fascination for birdlife. 

               Two-Fisted Tales Number Two : 

                An EC Comic Book Reprint 

     It has long been my held belief that if we do look at all the ramifications of going into battle we would most likely choose not to do so. Pre-code EC comic books were known to pull no punches when it comes to this.

     We are reminded in the first tale War Story that not much time has passed between the end of the Second World War and the Korean War. In fact, it has been only five years!

      In Brutal Capt. Bull we are brought into the world of press gangs and young men not wanting to be sailors, back in  the days of the tall masts, but having to somehow find a way to survive the ordeal. 

Dragon Queen is a novel that touches upon how class systems work and how the desire to find a substitute for war can lead to rebellion. It is science fiction set in the future where dragons are human mutations with scales and tales. If you have read and enjoyed 1984 you will like this book.

    Second-Hand Creeps, with horror from around the globe, continues to gather readers from everywhere.  

       

         

               REPEAT BUSINESS 

             

    Sherlock Holmes: Repeat Business, by New Zealand writer Lyn McConchie, published in 2013, is well worth getting your hands on if you are a Holmes fan. It is about clients who have returned to Sherlock Holmes with fresh problems that need solving. 

     Put out by Borgo Press, each story has the charm of Victorian England coupled with Lyn's extraordinary knowledge of farming, horsemanship, Victorian manners and how the class system back then worked.

 

     In one of the stories we find that even a rat might have an eye for beauty. In another, we learn that a suicide might actually be murder. In yet another, we discover something about Gypsies and Gypsy secrets. 

                  Cats Do it Better Than people

Edited By Theresa Mancuso for Adams Media (2005), Cats Do it Better Than People is a great set of stories for cat lovers like Lyn McConchie. In fact, it was Lyn who talked me into submitting some stories to this collection. There are tongue-in cheek moments such as Go Away! which I wrote about a girl who has a cat follow her home. My favourite by yours truly is Old Salt about a seafaring ginger. Then there's Dopey and Sneezy by Lyn McConchie and Just Good Friends, also by Lyn.     

                     

   

 Poisonous People by Lyn McConchie! 

A New Zealand writer takes on Sherlock Holmes and with some success. Two not so short stories concerning people you really don't want to meet. Lyn is a master story teller who does her research. In Poisonous People we are transported to 19th Century London with its clubs for gentlemen only and homes with secret rooms. Holmes and Watson are in their element and so are Doyle fans. Highly recommended. 

8th of June 2021

There is the promise of cold and rain for the next few days and a heavy storm tonight. I was a bit concerned about Phil Adams Park which is close to Corrimal train station. I feared the local council might have plans for it other than mowing the lawn every once in a while. As it turned out that seems to be their total interest in the sight which is good news to the local wildlife.

 Last year around this time I photographed a Frogmouth looking all sinister in one of those gnarled trees. I like Frogmouths.

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Of late Wollongong artists have gotten a tad morbid with their street art. Considering how much many of us prefer summer that seems fair enough to me.

I suppose such art does suit winter in Australia or winter elsewhere for that matter. All in good fun. 

Sinister or just blue? You decide. Found in Wollongong.