March 19 - "Etaoin Shrdlu"

“Etaoin Shrdlu”
by Fredric Brown
From These Ashes (2000)

* * * * (Great) Supernatural

After allowing a little guy with a pimple to use the linotype machine to print off a secret message, profitable and strange happenings begin to occur with the changed linotype machine.

While not entirely original in concept, the slow build and fascinating machine kept me anxiously turning pages. The themes of avarice and power are nothing new, but paired with a now obsolete machine, they work together to create an engaging story. This is the Brown I enjoyed in Night of the Jabberwock - a tale also involving a small-town newspaper editor, similar enough that I thought it might have been the impetus for this story (no proof – but similar enough in character – and machine – and nine years before Jabberwock’s publication). It says something about the story when you feel the need to do some research – such a fascinating machine – upon completion. The title, for example: did you know that “etaoin shrdlu” are actually the first two columns of keys on the linotype machine? If you made a mistake, it was easier to just run down these two rows, creating a bad slug, than hand-correcting a mistake in the type. Knowledge, huh? Completely entertaining, regardless of the time period; even if you have no knowledge of a linotype machine, the story is a joy to follow.