In the small town of Carmel City, it's just another Thursday night for longstanding editor and Lewis Carroll aficionado Doc Stoeger as he puts his weekly newspaper to bed. Of course there isn't any real news in the Carmel City Clarion, but then there never is, and Doc wishes that for once something would happen on a Thursday evening to give him a hot story to break. Before the night is through, Doc's wishes come true and he gets tangled up in a bizarre series of events that would make for sensational reading the next morning. But will he survive to put it into print?
Night of the Jabberwock
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About the Author
Born in 1906, Fredric Brown was an American science fiction and mystery writer. In early life he attended the University of Cincinnati and Hanover College, Indiana, before working as a newspaperman and magazine writer in the Midwest. His first foray into the mystery genre was The Fabulous Clipjoint (1947) which won the Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for outstanding first mystery novel. As an author he wrote more than thirty novels and over three hundred short stories, and is noted for a bold use of narrative experimentation, as exemplified in The Lenient Beast (1956) Many of his books employ the threat of the supernatural or occult before concluding with a logical explanation, and he is renowned for both original plots and ingenious endings. In the 1950s he moved to Tucson and wrote for television and film, continuing to submit many short stories that regularly appeared in mystery anthologies. A cultured man and omnivorous reader, Brown had a lifelong interest in the flute, chess, poker, and the works of Lewis Carroll. He died in 1972.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By Mr. R. J. Clark
VINE™ VOICE
Format:Paperback
Doc Stoeger is the editor of the Carmel City Clarion, the weekly local paper - in which nothing ever happens, and the front page story is a local bake sale. He puts the next edition to bed one night, and pops into the bar across the street for a swift whisky or two, bemoaning the lack of excitement.
If only he'd known. This night he's visited by an odd little man who tantalises him with the mysterious truth underlying Lewis Carroll's fictions (and a demonstration due to take place at midnight in an abandoned house), he foils a bank robbery, is menaced by escaped convicts, escapes from certain death on the local highway, and then winds up being hunted as a killer. Despite downing what by my count is three bottles of whisky over eight hours, Doc manages to unravel the plot and force a confession from the madman behind the night's shenanigans, but will anyone believe him and can he get it into type in time??
In fact, Doc is involved in so many events on the night of the jabberwock, that credulity is strained to breaking point. That said, it's lightly written, and Doc is an amiable companion for a night of murder and mayhem; I'd willingly read another Fredric Brown novel.
Another reissue in the excellent Langtail Press series: good clear typeface, creamy paper, and one of the original printings(so the smaller size paperback). Good stuff!
If only he'd known. This night he's visited by an odd little man who tantalises him with the mysterious truth underlying Lewis Carroll's fictions (and a demonstration due to take place at midnight in an abandoned house), he foils a bank robbery, is menaced by escaped convicts, escapes from certain death on the local highway, and then winds up being hunted as a killer. Despite downing what by my count is three bottles of whisky over eight hours, Doc manages to unravel the plot and force a confession from the madman behind the night's shenanigans, but will anyone believe him and can he get it into type in time??
In fact, Doc is involved in so many events on the night of the jabberwock, that credulity is strained to breaking point. That said, it's lightly written, and Doc is an amiable companion for a night of murder and mayhem; I'd willingly read another Fredric Brown novel.
Another reissue in the excellent Langtail Press series: good clear typeface, creamy paper, and one of the original printings(so the smaller size paperback). Good stuff!
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
By Untouchable
Format:Paperback
Doc Stoeger is the editor of the Carmel Clarion, Carmel City’s weekly newspaper, put to bed on Thursday night and released on Friday. On this particular Thursday night, the paper is looking extremely void of news and Doc complains that he wishes something would happen on a Thursday night to give him a hot story. As well as being editor of the local paper, Doc is also an aficionado of the works of Lewis Carroll and enjoys nothing more than spouting verse in Smiley’s bar when work is over. The Lewis Carroll references become very important to the storyline and are scattered liberally throughout the book.
Before the night is half over, Doc’s wishes come true, as he is absolutely deluged with exciting stories that would make terrific reading the next morning. From bank robbers, to a factory fire, to the capture of a criminal gang. But as quickly as they break, the stories evaporate leaving him with the prospect of delivering a newspaper with nothing worthwhile to read.
In the midst of his newspaper worries, Doc is visited by a man calling himself Yehudi Smith – a name of great significance to a Lewis Carroll fan. Yehudi seems to know a great deal about Doc and about his fascination with Lewis Carroll and he invites Doc to accompany him later that night on a hunt for the Jabberwock. As surreal as this prospect seems, Doc is convinced that the prospect isn’t as crazy as it first seems, so he agrees to go.
This is just the start of an amazing night for Doc Stoeger. Before the night is through, he finds himself in an unbelievably hopeless predicament on the run from the police, desperately trying to make sense of the night’s events. It seems that the story goes off the rails and heads into the realms of fantasy, but the key to the whole story is hidden in the fact that, although everything that happens seems impossibly fantastic, when logic is applied and reasoned out carefully, the events become part of a very clever plot.
This is a brilliantly constructed book combining the strange and, at times, nonsensical talents of Lewis Carroll’s brilliance with a scathingly clever mystery. This is the first book I have read by Fredric Brown, but I am now hopelessly and helplessly hooked.
And just as a teaser, here is an important verse of Lewis Carroll’s that has a rather special meaning in Night of the Jabberwock:
As I was climbing up the stair,
I met a man who wasn’t there
He wasn’t there again today
I wish that man would go away
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
Martin Gardner praised this in the foreword to his "Annotated Alice", and I've read various Fredric Brown stories, so was happy to take a punt. In the event, I think it's been overpraised: there are plenty of Lewis Carroll namechecks, but nothing much more complex than that. It's an entertaining enough thriller by a great pulp writer, though, and well worth a read and a re-read.
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