Subject: (urth) Digest urth.v028.n178

From: Nigel Price <nigelprice1 at compuserve.com>
Date: Sat, 08 Apr 2000 19:44:30 +0000

Tony Ellis wrote:

>>I've got as far as 1-2-3 For Me. I'd just like to say that I agree 101%
>>with William H. Ansley's view that this is a ghost story, pure and
>>simple. In particular it's an M.R. Jamesian ghost story, and I was a
>>little surprised to see no one else suggest this connection. For me
>>there's a definite sly wink in the direction of James's classic "Oh
>>Whistle, and I'll Come To You, My Lad!" Especially when you compare the
>>two titles: Wolfe's reads like a deliberately cheeky, modernistic
>>response to the Master. Why whistle, when you can tone-dial?

Um...is it OK if I point out that back on the 14th of March, I wrote to
this list to say:

        Has anyone else suggested yet that "One-Two-Three for Me" 
        is in some rather tenuous respects a science-fictional retelling of

        M R James' classic ghost story, "Oh, whistle, and I'll come to you,
my lad"?  
        Instead of the antique whistle in James' story, the vindictive
"ghost" is 
        summoned by a call on an ancient cell phone, and instead of a thing
of 
        wind and cloth, the "ghost" is a drug dealer.  Both stories feature
minor 
        excavation and archaeology, and if the titles aren't really that
similar, 
        they do at least share the common feature of being the sinisterly 
        seductive promises of the mysterious evil figures summoned in each
story.

So, yes, Tony, I'm with you all the way on this one!

Nigel (who is horribly hairy, though sadly not as skeletal as once was, and
seen only fleetingly on the list these days...)

*More Wolfe info & archive of this list at http://www.urth.net/urth/

---

From: Tony Ellis <tony.ellis at futurenet.co.uk>
Date: Mon, 10 Apr 2000 09:20:10 +0000

Oops, sorry Nigel! I've only read as far as 1-2-3 so I had to pick my
way through all the Strange Travelers posts with my eyes squidged half
shut. I must have missed yours.

Oh well, if we can both arrive at the same conclusion independently, we
must be on to something. :-)

Tony (who is horribly skeletal, though sadly not as hairy as he once
was...)