The Queue
Like a doomed motorcar attached to a tow rig on MythBusters, Horse Under Water came loose toward the end and started swerving all over the course. So, though I am going to give Deighton another go, I've decided to try his Bernard Samson character, rather than take a second crack at the unnamed protagonist of the "Secret File" series. Berlin Game is the opening chapter of the "Game, Set, Match" trilogy—Berlin Game, Mexico Set, & London Match—which is itself the opening threesome in a trilogy of Bernard Samson trilogies.

Of course, Defend the Realm is an eight-hundred-plus-page monster, dense nonfiction as compared to the breezy fictional fare on which I've been steadily grazing lo these many months, and I'll be forever getting through it; so, I expect it to be some little while before I get to Pretty in Ink, much less what lies beyond.

Recently
Sebastian Faulks, Devil May Care
W. Somerset Maugham, Ashenden: or, The British Agent
Len Deighton, Horse Under Water

Currently
Christopher Andrew, Defend the Realm: The Authorized History of MI5

Presently
Karen E. Olson, Pretty in Ink
Len Deighton, Berlin Game
…
Len Deighton, Mexico Set
Len Deighton, London Match
OR
John Toland, The Great Dirigibles
Rudyard Kipling, Kim

After the Malarkey
I find myself once again weighing two evils to determine which is the lesser: the wearying bother of shaving or the unsightliness of scuzzy stubble? I miss my moustache, I miss combing my beard. A fortnight on, I'm no longer surprised to see my philtrum, though I am always slightly chagrined. Of course, due to certain recent events, and the several months necessary before the beard starts living up to its potential, I shall have to remain cleanshaven for at least another month.

The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day
Johnny Socko, "Full Trucker Effect" from Full Trucker Effect (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary: "Full Trucker Effect" is the best kind of ridiculous, and I wish Full Trucker Effect was the soundtrack to a trucker film that it purports to be.