The Men and the Mirror by Ross Rocklynne

Determined space cop Colbie chases charmingly roguish pirate Deverel from planet to planet, into physics-demonstrating trap after physics-demonstrating trap.

https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/so-alone
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James Nicoll wrote:
> The Men and the Mirror by Ross Rocklynne
>
> Determined space cop Colbie chases charmingly roguish pirate Deverel from
> planet to planet, into physics-demonstrating trap after physics-demonstrating
> trap.
>
> https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/so-alone

"The Final Problem" (Doyle, 1894), has Holmes chase mastermind Moriarty.
It's an earlier case of a criminologist consistently one step behind.

<https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Memoirs_of_Sherlock_Holmes_1894_Burt/The_Final_Problem>

The TV show _White Collar_ has a criminal informant who stays one step
ahead of his official FBI handler. This format enables the likeable
mastermind to share his thought process with the audience.

<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Collar_(TV_series)>

Der Planet Horror in Perry Rhodan consists of a colossal core cavity
covered in a trio of thin surfaces, layered like onion skins. It's a
planet within a planet within a planet, the first of many traps in the
Zyklus.

<https://www.perrypedia.de/wiki/Horror>

_Cryptonomicon_ (Stephenson), along with Schantz's /Hidden Truth/
series, use plausible physics to advance the plot.

Danke,

--
Don.......My cat's )\._.,--....,'``. https://crcomp.net/reviews.php
telltale tall tail /, _.. \ _\ (`._ ,. Walk humbly with thy God.
tells tall tales.. `._.-(,_..'--(,_..'`-.;.' Make 1984 fiction again.

On 10/03/2024 16:01, Don wrote:
> James Nicoll wrote:
>> The Men and the Mirror by Ross Rocklynne
>>
>> Determined space cop Colbie chases charmingly roguish pirate Deverel from
>> planet to planet, into physics-demonstrating trap after physics-demonstrating
>> trap.
>>
>> https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/so-alone
>
> "The Final Problem" (Doyle, 1894), has Holmes chase mastermind Moriarty.
> It's an earlier case of a criminologist consistently one step behind.
>
> <https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Memoirs_of_Sherlock_Holmes_1894_Burt/The_Final_Problem>

The opposite in that story - the first appearance
of Professor Moriarty in "canon". Sherlock Holmes
has been investigating Moriarty's gang, Holmes has
given the evidence to police, and now he merely
needs to stay ahead of Moriarty and to escape
from a revenge attack. We see Moriarty coming
close to catching Holmes and Watson - both targets
together - but Holmes cleverly defeats him again
and again. I won't give away the ending.

However, _The Seven Percent Solution_ is a pretty
good alternative story where Holmes is insane from
drug use. In that version, Holmes and Watson
travel to Europe pursuing Professor Moriarty.
Again, I won't say more.

Robert Carnegie wrote:
> Don wrote:
>> James Nicoll wrote:
>>> The Men and the Mirror by Ross Rocklynne
>>>
>>> Determined space cop Colbie chases charmingly roguish pirate Deverel from
>>> planet to planet, into physics-demonstrating trap after physics-demonstrating
>>> trap.
>>>
>>> https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/so-alone
>>
>> "The Final Problem" (Doyle, 1894), has Holmes chase mastermind Moriarty.
>> It's an earlier case of a criminologist consistently one step behind.
>>
>> <https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Memoirs_of_Sherlock_Holmes_1894_Burt/The_Final_Problem>
>
> The opposite in that story - the first appearance
> of Professor Moriarty in "canon". Sherlock Holmes
> has been investigating Moriarty's gang, Holmes has
> given the evidence to police, and now he merely
> needs to stay ahead of Moriarty and to escape
> from a revenge attack. We see Moriarty coming
> close to catching Holmes and Watson - both targets
> together - but Holmes cleverly defeats him again
> and again. I won't give away the ending.

Think figuratively rather than literally. Moriarty has the initiative.
He's the first to know what he intends to do next.
It puts Holmes one step behind. Holmes is consistently coerced into
cognitively catching-up in the great game afoot.
The knowledge of Moriarty's motive sheds little, if any, light on
Moriarty's means and methods. Even the audience isn't privy to
Moriarty's thought process.

Danke,

--
Don.......My cat's )\._.,--....,'``. https://crcomp.net/reviews.php
telltale tall tail /, _.. \ _\ (`._ ,. Walk humbly with thy God.
tells tall tales.. `._.-(,_..'--(,_..'`-.;.' Make 1984 fiction again.

Robert Carnegie wrote:
> Don wrote:
>> James Nicoll wrote:
>>> The Men and the Mirror by Ross Rocklynne
>>>
>>> Determined space cop Colbie chases charmingly roguish pirate Deverel from
>>> planet to planet, into physics-demonstrating trap after physics-demonstrating
>>> trap.
>>>
>>> https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/so-alone
>>
>> "The Final Problem" (Doyle, 1894), has Holmes chase mastermind Moriarty.
>> It's an earlier case of a criminologist consistently one step behind.
>>
>> <https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Memoirs_of_Sherlock_Holmes_1894_Burt/The_Final_Problem>
>
> The opposite in that story - the first appearance
> of Professor Moriarty in "canon". Sherlock Holmes
> has been investigating Moriarty's gang, Holmes has
> given the evidence to police, and now he merely
> needs to stay ahead of Moriarty and to escape
> from a revenge attack. We see Moriarty coming
> close to catching Holmes and Watson - both targets
> together - but Holmes cleverly defeats him again
> and again. I won't give away the ending.

Think figuratively rather than literally. Moriarty has the initiative.
He's the first to know what he intends to do next.
It puts Holmes one step behind. Holmes is consistently coerced into
cognitively catching-up in the great game afoot.
The knowledge of Moriarty's motive sheds little, if any, light on
Moriarty's means and methods. Even the audience isn't privy to
Moriarty's thought process.

In retrospect, the use of "chase" in my first followup was a poor
choice. It leads readers astray. Robert is correct. Moriarty literally
chases Sherlock.

Danke,

--
Don.......My cat's )\._.,--....,'``. https://crcomp.net/reviews.php
telltale tall tail /, _.. \ _\ (`._ ,. Walk humbly with thy God.
tells tall tales.. `._.-(,_..'--(,_..'`-.;.' Make 1984 fiction again.

James Nicoll wrote:

> The Men and the Mirror by Ross Rocklynne
>
> Determined space cop Colbie chases charmingly roguish pirate Deverel
> from planet to planet, into physics-demonstrating trap after
> physics-demonstrating trap.

Colbie and Deverel remind me of King Pellinore and the Questing Beast
from The Once and Future King.

Brian

Robert Carnegie wrote:

> On 10/03/2024 16:01, Don wrote:
> > "The Final Problem" (Doyle, 1894), has Holmes chase mastermind
> > Moriarty. It's an earlier case of a criminologist consistently one
> > step behind.

> The opposite in that story - the first appearance
> of Professor Moriarty in "canon". Sherlock Holmes
> has been investigating Moriarty's gang, Holmes has
> given the evidence to police, and now he merely
> needs to stay ahead of Moriarty and to escape
> from a revenge attack.

I have been reading a number of modern Holmesian stories of late. One
is THE ADVENTURE OF THE STOPPED CLOCKS by Lydsay Faye.

It's told from the viewpoint of Irene Adler and has her first alerting
Holmes to the "professor of mathematics” from her dealings with Baron
Maupertuis. This a result of events adjacent to the untold story "The
Case of the Netherland-Sumatra Company and of the Colossal Schemes of
Baron Maupertuis".

Brian

Brian

Default User <defaultuserbr@yahoo.com> wrote:
>Holmes to the "professor of mathematics” from her dealings with Baron
>Maupertuis. This a result of events adjacent to the untold story "The
>Case of the Netherland-Sumatra Company and of the Colossal Schemes of
>Baron Maupertuis".

Is the Netherland-Sumatra company by any chance plagued with those
giant rats?
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

Scott Dorsey wrote:

> Default User <defaultuserbr@yahoo.com> wrote:
> > Holmes to the "professor of mathematics” from her dealings with
> > Baron Maupertuis. This a result of events adjacent to the untold
> > story "The Case of the Netherland-Sumatra Company and of the
> > Colossal Schemes of Baron Maupertuis".
>
> Is the Netherland-Sumatra company by any chance plagued with those
> giant rats?

Hard to say. Doyler certainly seems to have had Sumatra on his mind.

<https://www.arthur-conan-doyle.com/index.php/The_Case_of_the_Netherland-Sumatra_Company_and_of_the_Colossal_Schemes_of_Baron_Maupertuis>

Brian