On the floor of the big top right next to the overwhelming sense of impending doom

[sovay]

As of this afternoon with the pulmonologist, it looks like I have asthma, common or garden, either inherited or triggered by three months of lung infection with allergies involved somehow. It may resolve, it may be lifelong, I will have no idea until it has been treated for some time. Honestly, I had been so worried about yet another unidentifiable illness or further permanent damage that being handed a heavy-duty inhaler and instructions to report back in three weeks comes as a relief. Asthma is not thrilling, but it is at least well understood. Also the results of my pulmonary function test—while diagnostic—were just as hilarious as I expected, i.e., it says on paper that my lung capacity is 114%.

I returned home to discover that selkie had sent me one of the four remaining novels by Theodore Sturgeon I have not yet read: the novelization of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1961). I have no idea whether it is any good and I look forward to finding out. It was meaningless to me at the time, but I will always regret not impulse-buying I, Libertine (1956) from the pulp racks of Upper Story Books that one time in college I saw it.

Courtesy of moon_custafer: the jiu-jitsu lesson from Stand-In (1937). In the interests of pedantry, Leslie Howard is not actually playing the himbo of the century but an enormous nerd with the people skills of a rock, but in this situation it comes to the same thing.

spatch captured this most elusive expression of Autolycus' in the wild: the blerp.

Comments

[sovay]

...114% down from what, Dame Melba?

I'll let you know in three weeks!

I hope it’s as gloriously schlocky as the cover promised!

Opening sentence: "At the end, the bottom, the very worst of it, with the world afire and hell's flame-winged angels calling him by name, Lee Crane blamed himself." God bless pulp fiction.

[selkie]

How are they on fire at the bottom of the sea j’ai les questions

[sovay]

How are they on fire at the bottom of the sea j’ai les questions

I presume we will unbury the lede in due course of the narrative! The best part is that I have never seen either the film or TV series of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea and will have no ability to evaluate how closely the book resembles either if at all. I will refer to spatch, who interacts with the pop culture.

[pameladean]

They are often on fire at the bottom of the sea, I tell you what. They obviously had a very small special-effects budget and fire must have been comparatively cheap.

I was a feverish intense fan of the TV show (never saw the movie and didn't want to; I think it had different actors, so yuck, said my way way younger self) and I had NO IDEA AT ALL IN THE WORLD that Theodore Sturgeon wrote a novelization of any part of it. I'll have to see if I can find it. I MEAN.

P.

[sovay]

I was a feverish intense fan of the TV show (never saw the movie and didn't want to; I think it had different actors, so yuck, said my way way younger self)

Look, in all circumstances where it applies, it is reasonable to declare Richard Basehart or bust.

and I had NO IDEA AT ALL IN THE WORLD that Theodore Sturgeon wrote a novelization of any part of it. I'll have to see if I can find it. I MEAN.

I have his novelization of The Rare Breed (1966) and it only about half overlaps with the film, but I did enjoy it! Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea is even more what the WHAT, though.