Alexander Botts and the Earthworm Tractor: Queen of the North, Vol. 4
Alexander Botts and the Earthworm Tractor: Queen of the North, Vol. 4
ITEM 255AP
By William Hazlett Upson
In Queen of the North, the fourth installment of the Alexander Botts and the Earthworm Tractor series, the saga continues for our hero who tackles a variety of tricky sales situations, including promising a demonstration of a new, high-speed tractor that was not yet in existence. Unwilling to backpedal on a promise, he outfits a sturdy Earthworm tractor with an aviation motor and creates a beast equipped to conquer Canada’s deep snow and steep mountains. In this collection of humorous short stories, Botts again faces seemingly insurmountable obstacles, hostile management, and hirings and firings. Can he manage to pull it together to save the day?
Alexander Botts was created in 1927 by author William Hazlett Upson. The stories are based on Upson’s work as a service mechanic and troubleshooter for the Caterpillar Tractor Company. For almost half a century, Botts was beloved by Saturday Evening Post readers in more than 100 short stories. This book features the original illustrations that appeared with the stories and is part of a series that will be the first to present the collection in its entirety.
Paperback, 294 pgs., 6” x 9”; ISBN: 978-1-64234-100-3
I am happy to say the indefatigable and always unconventional Alexander Botts returns for Volume 4 in the series intended to include all of the more than 100 short stories published in The Saturday Evening Post starting in 1927. This collection of 15 delightful stories begins in July 1938 and ends in February 1941. Reflecting the era, the short stories continue to feature the exchange of letters and telegrams between Botts and the often exasperated, but ultimately pleased president of the Earthworm Tractor Co., Gilbert Henderson. Botts, now the company’s sales manager, travels extensively with his adventures set in Washington, D.C.; Mississippi; Florida; Nassau, Bahama Islands; Vermont; Arizona; California; Manitoba, Canada; Maine; Tennessee; Iowa; New York—city and state; Pennsylvania; and Missouri. Botts often overcomes the challenge of Earthworm’s chief rival, the Behemoth Tractor Co.
Reflecting the real world of increasing military-related expenditures and need for secrecy, Botts gets involved in the establishment of Earthworm’s Department of Cryptography; the use of a cyber machine; and building an experimental, high-speed, 16-ton, heavy artillery tractor equipped with a cannon. The volume’s title derives from the marvelous story of equipping a tractor with an aviation motor to conquer Canada’s deep snow and steep mountains.
Book Review by Robert Gabrick
