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Excerpted emails re: Biggles Follows On
The following exchange this morning was too much fun not to share. It references the first couple of chapters of Biggles Follows On, in which Cold War spy hijinks occur, as well as canon-typical flirting.
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scioscribe: Started this last night, and I'm extremely amused to see that it begins with Ginger spotting von Stalhein in London and LITERALLY ALL of Biggles's friends being like, "We should report him to some kind of higher authority immediately and possibly have him arrested," while Biggles is 100% like, "Hmm, I don't know. Maybe we should just keep an eye on him ourselves and make thinking about von Stalhein our brand new job. And isn't he just so noble and honorable and skilled? I will now defend spies in general and von Stalhein in particular for half an hour. And we can't get him arrested for nothing, can we? Oh, you have an actual charge? Well ... that's not really important, is it? I vote we still just keep monitoring the situation."
Biggles's friends: "HE'S TRIED TO KILL YOU."
Biggles: "Ha, yes, he does do that sometimes." *stares wistfully off into space*
sholio: I KNOW. Also, the very first thing Biggles asks, IIRC, is "How did he look?" Not "what's he up to" or ANY OF THE OTHER REASONABLE QUESTIONS that one could ask about one's archenemy turning up in England, but more like:
Biggles: How'd he look? Did he look well? Is he sleeping okay? What was he wearing? I need to visualize this properly.
Biggles's friends: ....
scioscribe: YES. That is 100% the vibe. Biggles wants to know 1) are his fantasy images still accurate and 2) should he bring him soup.
sholio: I now feel it would be ENTIRELY in character for Biggles to decide that von Stalhein looks like he's not taking care of himself and actually show up to bring him soup. Picture it: Von Stalhein has managed to sneak into England on a fake passport, such sneaky, very spy, feeling very good about himself, and then there's a knock on the door of the lodgings he's rented under an assumed name and it's Biggles with tea, soup, and strict instructions to take it easy until he gets over that lingering cold.
scioscribe: Honestly, if you told me that happened in the books, I'd believe you.
scioscribe: Started this last night, and I'm extremely amused to see that it begins with Ginger spotting von Stalhein in London and LITERALLY ALL of Biggles's friends being like, "We should report him to some kind of higher authority immediately and possibly have him arrested," while Biggles is 100% like, "Hmm, I don't know. Maybe we should just keep an eye on him ourselves and make thinking about von Stalhein our brand new job. And isn't he just so noble and honorable and skilled? I will now defend spies in general and von Stalhein in particular for half an hour. And we can't get him arrested for nothing, can we? Oh, you have an actual charge? Well ... that's not really important, is it? I vote we still just keep monitoring the situation."Biggles's friends: "HE'S TRIED TO KILL YOU."
Biggles: "Ha, yes, he does do that sometimes." *stares wistfully off into space*
sholio: I KNOW. Also, the very first thing Biggles asks, IIRC, is "How did he look?" Not "what's he up to" or ANY OF THE OTHER REASONABLE QUESTIONS that one could ask about one's archenemy turning up in England, but more like:Biggles: How'd he look? Did he look well? Is he sleeping okay? What was he wearing? I need to visualize this properly.
Biggles's friends: ....
scioscribe: YES. That is 100% the vibe. Biggles wants to know 1) are his fantasy images still accurate and 2) should he bring him soup.sholio: I now feel it would be ENTIRELY in character for Biggles to decide that von Stalhein looks like he's not taking care of himself and actually show up to bring him soup. Picture it: Von Stalhein has managed to sneak into England on a fake passport, such sneaky, very spy, feeling very good about himself, and then there's a knock on the door of the lodgings he's rented under an assumed name and it's Biggles with tea, soup, and strict instructions to take it easy until he gets over that lingering cold.scioscribe: Honestly, if you told me that happened in the books, I'd believe you.
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I also love Biggles saying, but he couldn’t settle down and get a normal job! He’s so aristocratic and military, he couldn’t work in an office! And Lord Bertie Lissie sitting in the office next to him going AHEM.
There are points where Algy and Ginger do actually say, why don’t you just ask him out to dinner and get it out of your system.
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I have always vaguely regretted that my local library didn't have these books when I was growing up -- I've never actually read them but from all I've osmosed over the years, 11-year-old!Xparrot would've adored them. And I'd never heard that there was villains-to-friends, my very favorite!
(I'm pretty sure 43-y-o!Xparrot would still enjoy them, she just reads a lot less now and there is a LOT of them ^^;;;;)
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I am greatly looking forward to your combined reactions to Hatchet and Looks Back. And incidentally, don't miss Foreign Legionnaire, most of the plot is about something else - Biggles and Ginger go undercover in the French Foreign Legion with the excellently-chosen false IDs of Mr Biggs and Mr Hepple, I am sure von Stalhein looks at them and goes HOW do these clowns keep outwitting me? HOW? - but then the last few chapters are ALL Biggles/EvS content.
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