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If my house were burning I’d be tempted to run back in for a couple of special books. I found Margaret Storm’s Return of the Dove while I was doing research on Tesla and still thinking I should own every possible point of view about the man. Hers certainly was a unique one. The chapter on Tesla begins, “Nikola Tesla was not an Earth man. The space
people have stated that a male child was born on board a space ship which was on flight from Venus to earth in July, 1856. The little boy was called Nikola.”

Beyond the fact that she sounds nutty as an almond, I’m particularly fond of Storm’s grammatical eccentricities. Why does “Venus” get a capital and not poor “earth”? Why does “space ship” take the more human “which” over “that”? At least she spelled his name right. (A street in Michigan that was supposed to be honoring the man ended up as Tesla Street.)

The unjacketed book arrived and I was surprised to find that not only was the cover bright Kelly green, so was the text. Storm had had the book printed in green ink. And, I suppose, why not? Still the spookiest part was the name plate. The previous owner, Mrs. LaFaye Fouts had chosen a book plate with a poem about PIGEONS! — Tesla’s favorite creatures. Spooky!

The book is part of my friends’ Shelley and Christine’s Interstitial
Library.