An illustrated collection of twenty tales of suspense, adventure, and history. Bringing together education and entertainment, each story is followed by a well researched discussion on the historical, cultural, or philatelic items in the story. There are also 5 non-fictional essays the author calls Engimas, mysteries of the real world dealing with subjects as diverse as symbols that speak to us from the past nearly unimaginable events in history and, in the case of the stamps in The Philatelic Hall of Shame, the seemingly quixotic process of selecting what goes into the stamp image.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Review
"Stamp Related Stories Make Summer Reading Fun"
"For this summer, there's a fun alternative sure to satisfy young and old alike. And, especially if you're a collector, you won't want to wait to find out what's in The Mystery Box. ... In a nutshell, it's great summer reading that blows Silas Marner out of the water" -- St. Louis Post Dispatch
My favorite stories are "Devil at the Door", like others, so neatly connecting politics past and present, but this one with a riveting focus on Bosnia. ... and "Case of the Missing Mogul, done with such special high spirits, with one of the best lines in the book - "But what, I asked, driving down the highway of diamonds about her neck..." -- Edward Clark, reader
The book conveys such a feeling of delight - verve -the authors delight - his 'serious pleasure- -- Reader Edward Clark, University Educator
This collection of short fiction by APS member Frederick Highland is just the ticket for an afternoon read. The author purchased a sandalwood box of stamps from a pawnshop in Macao "when American guns were first being heard in Viet Nam," and over the ensuing years he has woven one tale after another using these stamps as his inspiration. Philatelists and non-philatelists alike will enjoy the twenty intrigues and four enigmas; following every 3-4 page tale, a description and history are given for each of the stamps used as illustration.
There is a real element of historical fiction in several of the tales; after all, each is based on one or more stamps that were actually issued. ... Even Nick and Nora Charles show up. And you will not want to miss the last enigma, "The Philatelic Hall of Shame". Good or bad, the stamp engraver as artist is apparent throughout the book. From ancient Egypt to the year 2301, the author exhibits no shortage of imagination history and education in a most entertaining manner." -- The American Philatelist
From the Inside Flap
A vanished ship and a fabulous cargo await the reader in The Mystery Box. Drawing upon a real-life encounter with a tantalizing legend, Frederick Highlands' The Mystery Box offers an illustrated story collection that carries us to exotic places and across the boundaries of time. Each mystery tale is inspired by images from world wide postage stamps discovered by the author in a mystery box while in the Portuguese colony of Macao during the Vietnam War. This box has a curious link with the 1851 disappearance of a merchant vessel belonging to Sir James Brooke, the legendary White Rajah of Sarawak, a remote and fabled kingdom on the north coast of Borneo. I held onto the mystery box through many years of sailoring and travel, and I would go back to ponder the curiosities it contained. Each time I would linger longer, for it seemed these arresting images from places as remote as Nyasaland and Aden, from the Maldives and Paraguay, were instilled with a curious hold on me, a power to transport me to different lands and climes Each stamp was a miniature puzzle with a mystery inside, adds the author. It was as if the strange box had been placed in my hands to write down the stories it contained. The stories are as diverse as the postage stamps that inspired them. A murderous alter ego pursues his victim across time in Chain Letter. An escaped slave makes a plea for freedom in Never, a story that takes us to the African nation of Sierra Leone and the conundrum of nineteenth century abolitionist law. In The Emperor's Tomb, a former Maoist Red Guard has a terrifying encounter with the past. Included with the collection are several non-fiction pieces, or enigmas, based on provocative images collected in the Mystery box from Macao. Enter the legend. With fine repro-ductions of the stamps in each story, and commentary on the stamps themselves, The Mystery Box is an original blend of memorable writing and evocative imagery that will be treasured by all those who enjoy well-told tales.
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