Still not quite over the bug from last week, but I’m still trucking- or at doing me best to at least. Here’s the things that have made life doable since last Thursday.
No Covid I officially got tested before letting myself out in the public again and the bug I had last week was just that. A nasty bug. Probably a head-cold gone bad. I’ve been a little tired this week, but it’s most loosened its grips on me. The cough’ll hang on until the middle of next month, but that’s cough-variant asthma for you sometimes.
Jack-O-Lanterns Finally got the chance to carve jack-o-lanterns. I never did get to decorate properly for Halloween due to coming down with a bug right at the beginning of Fall Break, But I’m fairly happy with the jack-o-lanterns me and the hubby carved this year. And at least this way they’ll look fresh for Halloween proper- rather than nearly falling into on themselves like they’ve done in some years in the past when it was an overly warm October.
My Ballot is Cast Voting was easy, and I was able to get it done without much fuss. Even in a small rural area, I at least have to stand in line for a few minutes, but that wasn’t an issue. I was in and out within ten minutes all said.
Back into the Swing of Things I think I’m slowly finding my groove again, with the whole long-term sub thing. The first week was rocky, for several reasons, but I’m starting to feel like I’ve got my feet under me again, at least some of the time.
Fast FoodFrench Fries Granted, as previously said, I’m still tired. Especially with the whole recovering from the crud thing. So grabbing something through the drive-thru for dinner tonight was a relief. I swear, fast food fries never taste so good as when you’ve given up on having any maintainable level of energy.
Really, what sort of an introduction can you make for Edgar Allen poe? His horror feels, at times, ubiquitous. It’s difficult to escape references, at least this time of year. Still, that exposure seems reserved, commonly for a select few stories and poems. This is, admittedly, an older anthology of his poems and stories- one I’ve had for a good many years but had yet to read cover to cover, instead picking out bits as they caught my interest. I wish I had been less picky before now.
If you are familiar with the work of Edgar Allen Poe, you’ll know it’s wordy, but ultimately elegant, his horror a creeping thing, claustrophobic and unsettling, with themes including insanity, premature burial,illness, and the unknown. There is plenty of that in this anthology, with ‘The Raven’, and ‘The Masque of the Red Death’, and ‘The Tell-tale Heart’ all included, but you’ll also find some of his other writings, his science fiction and mysteries. Almost all (with perhaps the exception of two adjoining stories) flow into each other, connected by some thread or theme within the pieces, making the collection a journey rather than a patchwork quilt.
Secondly, the quality of the book itself is very nice. It’s a large one, not something you’d carry around in a book bag, but due to that the font is a very accessible size and the illustrations are large enough that details aren’t lost. It’s a sturdy text, cloth-covered hardcover with glossy pages. Additionally, the forward by Neil Gaiman isn’t the dry and academic prose one normally expects from a ‘classics’ anthology, but rather something readable in and of itself.
One thing that can be said of Poe, however, is that his writing is not always the most accessible. His narrators run the gamut from academics to sea-farers to madmen and certain pieces feel the weight of those narrative choices. They can be overly-verbose and rambling at the worst of times. Heck, the verbosity is often just as prevalent in his easier stories. Sometimes you just want to dip into the story, take the narrator by the collar, and growl ‘get on with it already’. This anthology held several stories that left me feeling that frustrated.
Still, as a whole, it’s a nice grouping, with a nice variety to choose from. If you are a Poe fan looking for a new anthology, you’d be well-served if you managed to find this collection.
Well, this has been a week. A rather exhausting one. I don’t have much energy for writing today, and I’m not about to go into the whys, but I wanted to put this together anyway.
Fall Break Thankfully, I’ve had some time to recover from all the not-good this week. It’s fall break and it’s been nice to have a bit of an escape.
I Passed There’s nothing like getting a good score on a test- especially when you’ve been waiting on the results for over a month. It was an English Praxis test- my subject area, so I wasn’t too concerned overall- still it’s nice to not have that hanging over my head.
Good Omens Finally, a year after its release, I’m watching the show and it’s so good! I always forget how much I love that story, until I get back into it again, though typically before now that just meant rereading the novel.
The Velvet Underground I love finding new music- something that shouldn’t be too unexpected if you’ve read these posts of mine before. And thanks to a post from Neil Gaiman I’ve found myself diving into the work from a rock band I’d never paid much mind to before.
Old Horror Movies I’ve been indulging in some older stuff- 70s and back, and I really appreciate the lack of jump scares and gore. The atmosphere and set up is what I really like- the creeping sense of wrongness. That sense of foreboding and rising paranoia. I’m thinking it’s the same reason I enjoy horror podcasts so much.
Title: The Collection Author: Bentley Little Publication Date: 2002 Length: 449 pages Genre: Horror, short stories TW– weapons, violence (extreme), gore, cannibalism, dismemberment, decapitation, death, murder, blood, corpse, death of an animal, pregnancy, birth, sexual content, incest, molestation, rape, domestic abuse, child abuse, slurs (mental capacity, little people, ethnic), racism, sexism, ableism
Well, turns out my luck from last week hasn’t held out. When I saw this book at a thrift store a couple of months ago I was rather excited- it’s not every day you see a horror anthology around my neck of the woods. There were a few reservations- I’d tried one of Little’s novels a couple of years back and his style of horror just didn’t do it for me. Still, I figured that short stories and novels were different enough beasts that I might really enjoy this. You can probably already tell how that went.
The collection is just that, a collection of unrelated stories- only bound together by their genre- horror, or perhaps in some cases dark speculative fiction. You’ll find stories ranging from the discovery that George Washinton was a cannibal, to a sex-cult surrounding a tire-iron once touched by James Dean, to revenge-filled zombies. Despite the description, that last one is probably one of the most down-to-earth stories in the bunch.
I will say, despite my issues with the book, there’s one thing that Bentley Little has in spades, and that’s imagination. The book is full of fantastical scenarios and bizarre what-ifs, implausible though they may be (i.e. George Washington’s thing for human flesh). If you can let go of your suspension of disbelief well enough there are some really interesting ideas that he played around with here.
That if, however, is a big if. A humongous if. Because it seems to me that Little doesn’t really know when to quit. The strongest stories, in my opinion, were the ones that didn’t try to be scary, because it didn’t feel forced. While at times Little has a good handle on his horror, often he winds up in wtf-land, and not in the good way either, hopping straight out of the realm of horror and winding up in the absurd instead. Now, I admittedly like absurd, most of the time, but this book elicited more eye-rolls from me than anything else. There’s only so many stories you can read with cannibal-cults and incest and sentient rapist pillows before it’s all just too much.
This is, I think, partially due to the fact that I never felt myself invested in the characters. And while I know it can be difficult to build that connection in the amount of space a short-story lends, everyone felt vaguely cookie-cutter-ish. They rarely seemed to lose the sense of being figurines, moved around solely for the sake of the plot.
So, that being said, if you’re already a fan of Bentley Little’s style of horror, you may enjoy this one. If, one the other hand, you prefer your horror a little more subtle or insidious, or just not full of some of the items mentioned in the trigger warnings section, you may want to go elsewhere.
And Thursday rolls around again. It’s been an eventful week, to say the least, and my brain feels vaguely like cotton candy right now, so let’s just start before my brain shuts down on me completely due to lack of sleep.
One More Chapter Down On the book front, I finished the edits on another chapter, and I’m actually pretty happy with it. I finally feel like the end of this round of revisions is within sight. Of course, my progress might be a little stuttery again for the next bit.
Sub work Why, you may ask? And also, why am I so tired? Well, I managed to get a longer-term subbing job. I try not to mention work too much, It has a way of taking over my brain if I let it, and I need a space where I can completely shut it out, but I’m happy for the stable-ish in-the-same-room-every-day experience.And knowing that I’ll have a job for the day. I swear, sometimes waiting around in the morning, waiting for a phone call, is one of the worst parts of subbing.
Frozen Pizza Of course, with long-term subbing comes a lot of exhaustion. And it is for that reason that I am very thankful for frozen pizza. Dinner in fifteen minutes, and I don’t have to stand over the stove. Can’t beat that.
My Best Friend Because when the stress inevitably gets the better of me she’s one of the only people who can get my brain to shut up and quit being such a jerk.
New music Another thing that keeps me sane. Good music. I haven’t had much of a chance to listen to the rest of Talkie’s stuff yet, but “Fuzzy Disco” was the ‘weather’ on a Nightvale episode, and I’ve had it on repeat since I heard it early this week.
Title- Bunnicula: A Rabbit-Tale of Mystery (#1 in Bunnicula series) Author- Deborah & James Howe Illustrator- Alan Daniel Publication Date- 1979 Length- 98 pages Genre- middle grade, paranormal, animal story, humor TW- threatened violence, mention of alcohol, attempted murder, starvation, slur (for Roma)
Normally, when I write a book review, I try to cover a book I haven’t read before and, aside from a few exceptions, I lean towards at least YA reading Level- this one is neither. I first ran into the Bunnicula series when one of my older cousins gave me Howliday Inn when I was a kid, and at this point it’s an old favorite. But after The Shining I needed something a little lighter.
The story begins when the lives of two family pets, a dog named Harold and a cat named Chester, are disrupted by a new addition, a small bunny found one stormy night. All seems normal, until dried white vegetables, with two tiny fang shaped holes, begin to show up in the kitchen and Chester pins Bunnicula as the prime suspect.
Bunnicula is a fun story, one that doesn’t take itself too seriously, more along the lines of The Munsters rather than something by Stine or Pike. It’s thoroughly lighthearted in tone, beginning with the premise of Harold being the books author and extending to Chester’s attempts to thwart Bunnicula (which includes a vampire pantomime and the results of confusing ‘steak’ with ‘stake’).
What really drives the story, in many ways, is the interactions between sarcastic, paranoid Chester and down-to-earth Harold. The authors succeed in leaning into animal stereotypes without it being overdone, the result being a bickering that bounces back and forth like a tennis ball.
If I had a complaint, it would be the fact that Bunnicula, the titular character, is a silent figure and largely passive. Of course, rabbits aren’t known for being vocal animals, still in a world of (at least among each other) talking animals, the silence feels strange, and I’m left wandering how an active Bunnicula would affect the story.
Initially, I wasn’t sure how the story would hold up under an adult eye, but I was pleasantly surprised to see that I enjoyed it almost as much as when I was a kid- only some of which I attribute to nostalgia.
Ah, it’s been a good week overall, with lots of little changes in the air. Lots of chaos in general… that’s kind of the world right now… a whirling ball of chaos… but at least a bit of it was good on my end. I’m trying to stay positive right now.
Dreams I’m finally starting to be able to remember them again. For some reason they’ve been a hazy mess for the past few months, which was annoying, since I get some of my weirdest writing ideas from my dreams, and I love weird. For the last week or so though I’ve actually managed to remember them with some clarity. Crossing my fingers that that’ll continue and also won’t drift into the darker side of dreams since….
Halloween Season has begun! Not that I have to have an excuse to indulge in the spookier side of things, but I love Halloween so much! I pulled my decorations out of storage yesterday and spent a bit of today starting the house’s transformation.
Fall colors Mother nature’s doing some transforming of her own. The colors are starting to noticeably shift from green to yellow and orange now. I had to take a lengthy trip for some routine car maintenance and it gave me the chance to see how much fall has started to take hold.
Bingeable Podcasts As nice as the foliage was, it still didn’t make the trip seem any less long. But the podcasts I loaded to my phone did! I’m almost caught up on Welcome to Nightvale and I got in a few minutes of the Penumbra Podcast– don’t know if it’ll be my next driving-to-work distraction, but it sounds interesting so far.
Stories! Continuing on with that theme, a lot of stories that I follow were updated and/or completed this week. Plus I discovered that Peacock has at least some of Elvira’s Movie Macabre. Bad horror movies just in time for spooky season.
Title- The Shining Author- Stephen King Publication Date- 1977 Length- 659 pages Genre- horror- supernatural TW- smoking, alcoholism, drinking (heavy), drunk driving, drug use, sexual imagery, strong language, Child abuse, violence against children, violence towards animals (a dog is kicked, if I recall correctly), domestic violence, weapons, violence (graphic), major injury, dental trauma, murder, attempted murder, mention of decapitation, corpse, blood, gore, suicidal ideation, mention of institutionalization, mental illness, medical treatment, seizures/seizure-like episodes, ableism, racism, sexism, homophobia, slurs (sexist, racist, ablest, homophobic), insects
What better way to start October by hitting one of the Stephen King classics that have been sitting, unread, on my shelves. Admittedly, this one probably would have been a better mid-winter read, but at least it’s not The Stand. Unfortunately, I also knew enough about this one to be sufficiently spoiled, but I’ve found ways to avoid letting spoilers ruin the experience.
And this one was definitely an experience. Just in case you’ve managed to avoid spoilers for The Shining and know nothing about the story, it follows the Torrance family as Jack (the father) attempts to get his feet under him, taking a job as caretaker for the Overlook hotel after losing his job at a private school (partially due to his previous alcoholism and largely due to his temper). It doesn’t take long for the dark nature of the hotel to come to light, especially considering the extra-sensory abilities of Jack’s young son, Danny, and the family struggles to retain their lives and their sanity as winter closes in around them.
Horror, I have found, is not an easy genre to write in. Or at least not easy to write well. The balance in tension is difficult to maintain, too little and it falls flat, try too hard and boy does it show, falling into corniness. I never encountered either problem, reading The Shining. There is a creeping sense of dread that permeates the story, even before the Overlook Hotel becomes a constant figure, and one of the reasons I wish I had read this book during the winter is the overarching feeling of isolation and claustrophobia. Yet amongst that are small snippets of normalcy, growing ever fainter as the darkness encroaches in on the family, slowly tearing them apart.
Part of the reason the story, and the slow unraveling of the Torrance family, is so effective is that you care about the characters. It’s one of the most glaring differences between the novel and what I’ve seen of the Kubric film. Danny is an endearing kid, without feeling cutesy for the most part, clearly struggling to figure out how his own gift (or curse) works; a confusing world is made all the worse by adding in adult elements he’s not yet ready for. And Jack is such a tragic figure, in many ways. He’s so incredibly flawed, and sometimes you just want to punch him, but you can see how much he loves his wife and son, and that makes his descent into madness so much worse. Especially since he’s so aware of his own flaws, and his struggles with them are part of the foundation of his character. It’s heartbreaking to see those flaws pulled like loose strings, letting him slowly unravel.
Unfortunately, the story is rather marred at the beginning by what I would consider to be a sloppy usage of point of view. Within a single scene the point of view will go from one character, to another, and then back to the first again. The shifts often feel abrupt, with no warning other than the fact that the two characters are both in the same scene. It’s especially frustrating when the perspective shifts from an adult voice to Danny’s, considering the difference between the ways adults and children see the world. To make matters worse, these shifts often happen over a very short amount of time, with the second perspective at times taking up only a few paragraphs out of a several page section. Although I could see the reason that King would want, in those scenes, to have the two perspectives on events, it still felt lazy.
Overall this was a fairly minor problem, however, in a book that was, otherwise, incredibly well-crafted. I fully intend on pulling it off the shelves again this winter, when the storms creep in, and the cold and isolation inherent in the book can have full effect.
Chapter Complete! I finished the last of the add-on chapters for the book I’m writing. Well, the rough version at least. I’ve still got to go through some revisions, but writing the new parts and trying to make sure they fit with the flow of the story has been an absolute nightmare. One of the worst blocks I’d had in a while. The story’s much better for it, I think, but still. I’m so glad to have that part of the process finished.
Thrifting So like the cautious people we are, me and my mom have been staying away from unnecessary trips out. We hadn’t made a joint thrifting trip in what feels like forever. Well, we finally decided to mask up and go hit a few places, since we had to go out anyway, and it felt really good to get out with her for a while. I must admit, it was a bit of a weird day… I’ve never experienced quite that level of chaos at a goodwill before… but it was still awesome. Would’ve been great even if we hadn’t found anything, but I came away with some goodies.
Cookbooks Yes, I got more cookbooks. Did I need them, no. But they’re old and pretty and I love them, so there. They’re undergoing quarantine right now, but I’m looking forward to pulling them out this weekend.
An Easy Read I’d really hit a bit of a snag in my reading lately. The past few books I’ve tried to get through have been such a slog- just books that I can’t get into. it’s been like three in a row, and I still haven’t finished the one. Normally I’d call it quits, but it’s a sci-fi ‘classic’ so the english major in me feels weirdly obligated. Anyway though, I finally picked up a book I’m enjoying and it’s such a relief! Well written and creepy as heck so a good start for October.
Critical Role I can’t say anything. I won’t say anything, but holy cow this week has been wild.
Hanging by a Plot Thread 