The Mystery of the Moving Image

The Mystery of the Moving Image (2018) C.S. Poe

After having been burned out of his apartment, Sebastian and Calvin are moving into a new place–together.

And Sebastian is done with mysteries and putting himself in danger. Or he thinks he is, until a Thomas Edison Kinetoscope shows up at his shop.

Calvin–although not healed–is seeing someone for his PTSD and is healing.

Calvin hardly ever talked about his therapist or their sessions together. Not that I expected him to. It was his journey. So long as he sought discussion with someone who would guide him to discovering self-forgiveness and healthy coping mechanisms, I didn’t care if he never shared a word.

Which means that Sebastian has no reason not to face his anxieties now, even if he thinks they should be a thing of the past.

So yeah, a lot of things were good. But I guess that’s why I’d also been sidelined by anxieties lately. I wasn’t expecting old self-doubts when I was on top of the world.

What I like best about Sebastian is that he’s a geek. Not in the technology way–he’s completely inept with technology–but that he gets excited about his interests and is passionate about them.

“I remember watching Fred Ott’s Sneeze in my Film History class. That was Edison’s, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah, first copyrighted film in the United States,” I murmured. Fred Ott had been a gentleman who worked for Edison, who by all accounts had a particularly memorable sneeze. It was one of the test reels shot by W. K. L. Dickson, Edison’s assistant, who was the brilliant inventor of the Kinetograph camera and Scope viewer. “But even that film didn’t survive,” I continued. “It was submitted to the Library of Congress as a series of still images, later reanimated into a movie.”

“How do you know this?”

“I took notes in college.” I carefully removed the canister lid.

“You’re the guy at the cocktail party everyone regrets striking up a conversation with.”

Not me. I love meeting people like that.

“I’m ignoring the sarcasm only because I’m incredibly turned on by you spouting random facts at me,” I answered.

Calvin smirked. “I’ll remember that.”

So, I love the bits and Calvin and Sebastian’s relationship. I love that Sebastian is working out a friendship with Neil, and that they are learning to talk about the things that bother them.

I also enjoyed the mystery, even if I think that Sebastian takes too many foolish risks.

It’s a fun series, and I’ll be glad to read the next when it comes out.

Publisher: DSP Publications
Rating: 8/10

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