The
Spontoon Mirror (est. 1930) was founded by an ex-pat American
from Los Angeles, Charles Foster Crane, a wealthy third son who was
lying low in the Spontoons until certain romantic indiscretions
committed back home died down. He had been used to the more
lively Los Angeles press, and, in particular, missed the comic pages
and extensive sports coverage. The local papers, he decided,
wanted competition the American way.
The prodigal's father was only too glad to finance his son's ambitions,
as he figured this would at least keep him out of trouble at home, and
it might teach him some valuable business lessons in the bargain.
The Spontoon
Mirror is published in tabloid fashion, and publishes a morning
edition, six days a week, Monday through Saturday, and an evening
edition, five days a week, Monday through Friday. (Price: 2d,
except for the Saturday edition, which is 6d.) In addition,
the contents are sometimes changed during the run, as per American
practice, with a 3-star edition usually going out to subscribers, and
the five-star final being the newsstand version, reflecting the latest
news. [You see Sgt. Orrin Brush
occasionally referring to these different editions.]
Thanks to family connections, the Mirror has
access to a lot of syndicated material from the US, including a variety
of comic strips, at a relatively cheap price, especially since no paper
in the area has taken these features up. (The Saturday morning
edition has the Sunday color funnies, plus a number of other features
which make it bulkier.) The various Hollywood gossip columns and
other features are also popular. The Mirror
subscribes to the AP and Reuters, and thus has access to a great deal
of international news and photos. There is also wide coverage of
world-wide sports, in addition to the local stuff about aeroplanes and
seaplanes.
The Mirror
generally likes to put something zowie! on its front page, usually
relating to (a) sex, (b) crime, (c) scandal, or (d) sports.
Combinations of the above, of course, are preferential. Needless
to say, a snappy headline to accompany the eye-catching photo is even
better.
[The Mirror thus takes
something of an interest in Detective Inspector Stagg's work, of
course, and this exacerbates a somewhat tense relationship between the
Chief Constable and Stagg, such as at the end of "Sleight of Paw."]
The Mirror
generally has a brisk sale on Casino Island in the hotels, and at the
airline terminals as well. Subscriptions are rather smaller,
mainly confined to the naval base (who follow the home sports scores)
and some Meeting Island types, who want to keep up with who among them
is getting in trouble publicly. (Few there will admit to reading
the paper...most copies are hidden in desk drawers.) The native
population, for the most part, ignores it, preferring the Spontoonie
edition of the Daily
Elele. Thus, few copies of the Mirror are seen
outside of Meeting or Casino Islands, or the naval base/seaplane
areas. There are some isolated subscriptions outside the
Spontoons. Home delivery is not yet available to Cranium Island.
The paper currently runs at a small loss, largely because family
connections again allow for some advertising subsidy (ads pitched at
the tourists and travelers, and the "captive" sailors at the
base). The government does *not* give it any official business,
naturally, which means that the Elele, thanks to
its virtual monopoly of the native market and its ties to the
government, is still the market leader. Crane, however, is
sanguine about this, and is biding his time.
Crane enjoys himself immensely, surveying Casino Island from top
(fifth) floor of the brand-new (ca. 1934) Mirror Building, and for the
most part enjoys the trouble he stirs up, now and again. He will,
however, hush things up as a "favour" now and again, though he usually
figures out a way to call in these favours. The exceptions, of
course, are hints from Spontoon's intelligence services, which are
carried out quickly and quietly.
Crane has been seriously thinking about expanding into radio, and even
taking a flutter on television, if they ever get the bugs out of the
latter. With all the limitless possiblities of the
Spontoons, Crane is coming to the conclusion that he's well rid of Los
Angeles, and this is where his future is!
EOCostello
October 2004
February 2005
|
