Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1908-02-24
RECENT FICTION

tense beyond that of showing us a
group of entertaining characters in the
meshes of a plot that carries them
without halt from incident to lnciuent
up to a dramatic climax.
Constantinople in the fourteenth CEN
fury is the scene, and the story plays
about the efforts of a little band TO
eXpel the usurper Andronicus from the
throne and restore his father Johannes.
The principal actor in the plot is one
Carlo Zeno, gentleman of Venice, ex-
clerk, ex-gambler, ex-Soldier of fortune
ex-lay prebendary of Patras, ex-du-
ellist and ex-Greek general, being about
20 years of age, and having In MS
tough body the scars of half dozen
wounds that would have killed an or
binary man." But the plot comes TO
involve Arethusa, supposedly Greek
slave who had come into the possession
of Messer Zeno, but actually person
of very different standing ana quallty
from the ordinary slave.
This is only the barest outline OF the
story, which is as full of the color anu
romance of the time and place as 1t IS
of the exciting incidents proper TO such
a tale 1t gives us Crawford in ms
most genial vein, spinning yarn LOT
the pleasure of his hearers-"the story
teller of the bazaar" as he styles MINI
self.
Arethusa. By F. Marion Crawford.
New York: The Macmillan co.
"The Broken Road" A. e. w. Ma
sons latest novel, tells good story
and a powerful one. The scene is iaid
| in India and England; the plot deals
with Dick Linforth, young army en-
gineer who, for hereditary reasons, Is
heart and soul anxious that the ROAD
through Chilistan shall be pushed 70
| 1.-The foot of the Hindu Kush"; with
A who. educated
at Elton and oxford, returns to lndla
to find that he has neither place nor
country, and with Violet Ollver,
charming widow whose distinguishing
characteristic is her love of pretty
things.
Linforth, whose father has given MS
| life for the road, and Shere All, whose
father loves his conquerors and greatly
desires that his son shall be as Engs'sn
as possible, are friends at school ana
college Together they plan the great
things that their united efforts saaii
work for Chilistan and the Wonoertui
road that means so much more IMAM
either suspects. But Violet OliVeI,
whom both love, comes between item
and the Indian youths bitter learning
of the lesson of race difference plays
pathetic part in the story of his re-
| ligious and personal reclamaton-anu
| disaster Linforth, who has Deen SUM-
/ noned to India to restrain Shore All, II
possible, becomes his bitter enemy, ana
| finally is sent to find and BRING PACK
prisoner his one-time comrade to a lie
IF EQUALIZATION and exile. The road
goes through at last, but Linforth Is
| less triumphant than he has dreansu
| of being when this happens.
The Broken Road. By A. IL. w. Ma
son. New York: Charles Scribners
Sons.
| Stewart Edward White never mas
done better work as a story teller than
| is evidenced in his latest volume, pub
| lished under the title of Arizona
Nights. The yarns, which have peen
appearing, for the most part, IN NC
Cures Magazine during the last year
| or more, are here brought together Tor
| the first time in such a way as 10
show their essential unity as a single
picture of life in the southwest. A
group of men of all sorts and condl-
| lions. from the cowpuncher to the Eng
J lish remittance man, who are thrown
| together in the equaliZing atmosphere
of the desert, gather nightly around
| an Arizona campfire and spin yarns
| that are sometimes picturesque, some
| times exciting and sometimes humor-
Gus. Included in the book is also the
powerful short serial, 1.-THE Rawhide,"
which first appeared in McClure's
Magazine. There are number OF IL
| Illustrations in color by N. Z. worth.
| Arizona Nights. By Stewart Edward
| White. New York: The Mcclure co.
Necessarily it is with a certain sense
of dread that the reader approaches
| book which the author admits is cap
| sble of being interpreted as morpio.
Yet to those to whom Mr.. Benson's
great charm of style, lucidity OF
thought and fine idealism have meant
much in the past, the possipiilty OIL
Icing saddened rather than cneereo oy
| his latest volume, 1.-THE Altar Fire" will
| scarcely prove an effectual deterrent
| II NAV be said at once that in any true
sense of the word this is not morbid.
| II is a painful story that Is told, the
story of a man of the finest mold potn
Spiritually and intellectually to whom
every sorrow that may well be mag
| ined came in rapid succession. Berert
| of the power to write at the very mo-
ment when he has made the success
d real and not meretricious successor
his literary career and then in few
months losing first one child, then his
fortune, then his wife and other child,
the supposed writer of this diary Is In
deed sorely afflicted. Yet he rises ou*
| Of his suffering to a higher and noDier
life than he had ever dreamed or in MS
| happier days and he takes up the work
! that is given him to do in the sure and
certain hope that in the hereafter he
will be united to those whom he has
lost.
The Altar Fire. BY Arthur c. Ben
son. New York: G. p. Putnam's Sons.
| Los Angeles, Fowler Brothers.
"The Magnet" by Alfred o. Crozier.
belongs in the category of business fic-
ton. 1t has, however, an economic
| as we'll as a fiction value though, as
must be the case with any book worth
while, several of the conclusions
reached doubtless will be combatted
vigorously by majority of the works
| readers. For instance, Mr.. Crozier
declares the tariff an enemy to trusts
because it prevents importations and
| thus encourages the establishment of
new industries which the trusts must
| buy out. This, to most men. will ap-
peal as rather amusing sophistry.
1.-THE Magnet" is a novel, but 1t dis
cusses many current problems which
have been or are becoming uppermost
in the minds of thoughtful people. Mr..
Crozier writes with humor, originality
and directness, as well as with force
and lucidity, and the volume is sure
to attract much attention, especially
In this year of political activity. In
| his romance he considers the central
government bank plan, which he calls
| q consnira nv hy the evil mowers of Wall