Three-Star Short Stories and Sorry Nicole and San

 I wasn't going to take part in San's gift swap because it's not the kind of thing I usually do, mostly because I don't trust my memory. But since the other Canadian wasn't going to do it and I usually send Nicole something anyway, I did sign up. And I happily picked out some little things and got them all ready, aaaand then Canada Post went on strike. 

I thought Nicole and I were going to talk about how to handle it, but Nicole is efficient and thoughtful so the box just showed up. I boxed up the stuff for Nicole and my husband took it to UPS with our boxes for his brothers and step-dad, and then brought them all home because he said it was going to be too expensive. And then the strike ended but the next time I went to the post office the lineup was insane, soooo the box is finally on its way to Nicole but it's super late and I suck, and I was putting off showing everyone what Nicole sent because I felt crappy about letting down my end.

But here it is, it was glorious.

I got Eve a mug and socks from Indigo last year (pink socks, mug with gold stars) and kind of wanted one, And Nicole got me the GREEN ONE. The socks are so soft, and I wore them to Wicked with Holly. And candy cane kisses, which are the only Hershey's kiss I like, and pretty book trivia cards and vanilla candy cane foot butter. 

My package for Nicole should be there by Friday (Monday at the latest) and I apologize for letting down the side, but I TOTALLY would have gotten it done if not for the strike - Beginning-of-December Allison was On Top of Her Shit.

Three-Star Short Stories

Other Terrors: An Inclusive Anthology edited by Vince A. Liaguno and Rena Mason: Synopsis from Goodreads: An anthology of original horror stories edited by Bram Stoker Award ® winners Vince A. Liaguno and Rena Mason that showcases authors from historically excluded backgrounds telling terrifying tales of what it means to be, or merely to seem, "other."

Offering new stories from some of the biggest names in horror as well as some of the hottest up-and-coming talents, Other Terrors will provide the ultimate reading experience for horror fans who want to examine fear of "the other."

Be they of a different culture, a different background, a different sexual orientation or gender identity, a different belief system, or a different skin color, some people simply aren't part of the community's majority—and are perceived as scary. Humans are almost instinctively inclined to fear what's different, and there are a multitude of individuals who have spent far too long on the outside looking in. And the thing about the outside is . . . it's much larger than you think.

There were some good stories in this anthology. I was a little bit confused - and turned off -  by the fact that there is a story featuring an Asian protagonist that is not written by an Asian author. I think the emphasis was more on 'outsiders' in the stories, whereas I think if an anthology is called 'inclusive' the emphasis should be on authors from marginalized communities.

Some of the stories were a bit wanting also. 'There's Always Something in the Woods" seemed very much like an early writing attempt. The dialogue and how everyone kept interrupting each other rubbed me the wrong way - that might have just been me. 'Churn the Unturning Tide' was an interesting attempt at showing how pregnancy can unleash feral tendencies in women, but I didn't feel like it stuck the landing. 'Miss Infection USA' - about a zombie beauty (?) pagent - was pretty good. 'Tiddlywinks' - well, I always love Stephen Graham Jones. 'Kalkriese' is a trans woman writing about a trans woman, all good, proceed. 

The Wishing Pool and Other Stories by Tananarive Due: Synopsis from Goodreads: American Book Award–winning author Tananarive Due’s second collection of stories includes offerings of horror, science fiction, and suspense—all genres she wields masterfully. From the mysterious, magical town of Gracetown to the aftermath of a pandemic to the reaches of the far future, Due’s stories all share a sense of dread and fear balanced with heart and hope.

In some of these stories, the monster is racism itself; others address the monster within, each set against the supernatural or surreal. All are written with Due’s trademark attention to detail and deeply drawn characters.

In addition to previously published work, this collection contains brand-new stories, including “Rumpus Room,” a supernatural horror novelette set in Florida about a woman’s struggle against both outer and inner demons.

I have always loved Tananarive Due's books and short stories and I was super excited to get this. I'm slightly disappointed - nothing was bad, but a lot of them just didn't hit squarely on for me, although I love the use of horror fiction to interrogate and skewer institutionalized racism. I loved Haint in the Window and Thursday Night Shift. Rumpus Room had some really good stuff on mother-daughter relationships and maternal guilt, and the story was good but I didn't find the ending satisfying. Most of the Gracetown Stories were good background but didn't really fill in enough. I believe that Nayima in the last couple of stories is from Due's stories in the Apocalypse Triptych, which I adored, and I was excited to learn more about her, but the stories were odd and I couldn't really figure out what they were trying to do. I will still read everything by her I can get, it might have just been the time of year that was wrong for reading this. I keep requesting that my library get more of her books, they should really be more widely available.

Ashes and Entropy edited by Robert S. Wilson: Synopsis from Goodreads: Nightscape Press is proud to present ASHES AND ENTROPY edited by Robert S. Wilson, an anthology of cosmic horror, noir and neo-noir including stories by Laird Barron, Damien Angelica Walters, John Langan, Kristi DeMeester, Jon Padgett, Lucy A. Snyder, Matthew M. Bartlett, Jessica McHugh, Tim Waggoner, and many more. Ashes and Entropy will be beautifully illustrated by Luke Spooner.

Our Kickstarter campaign ends very soon and we have many exciting and rare rewards to share with you. So, please, stand on the precipice with us as we prepare to dive down through the event horizon into the bleak and mind-shattering void of both the cosmos and of humanity.

Welp, to be perfectly honest I don't remember anything about this. I got it as a Kindle unlimited, and I seem to have not made a single note. I usually try to make a short note on most of the stories in an anthology, because otherwise they tend to merge together in a formless blur.

You Like it Darker by Stephen King: Synopsis from Goodreads: From legendary storyteller and master of short fiction Stephen King comes an extraordinary new collection of twelve short stories, many never-before-published, and some of his best EVER. “You like it darker? Fine, so do I,” writes Stephen King in the afterword to this magnificent new collection of twelve stories that delve into the darker part of life—both metaphorical and literal. King has, for half a century, been a master of the form, and these stories, about fate, mortality, luck, and the folds in reality where anything can happen, are as rich and riveting as his novels, both weighty in theme and a huge pleasure to read. King writes to feel “the exhilaration of leaving ordinary day-to-day life behind,” and in You Like It Darker, readers will feel that exhilaration too, again and again.

"It was to this dead end that the hunting party had driven the infestation of snakes. A group of lawyers is an eloquence; a group of rattlesnakes is a rhumba. I didn't know how I knew that, but I did. The mind isn't just a venomous reptile that sometimes bites itself; it's also an enthusiastic garbage picker." - Rattlesnakes

I am generally a Stephen King fan. Not an indiscriminate one, but I think his good books are very, very good. Not just scary, but viscerally good at capturing the feeling of childhood, the bittersweetness of romantic relationships, the fear of losing the people we love, and the tendency of humans to reach for more. 

I just googled for a list of his short stories, and wow - there are a LOT of them. I seem to have four-starred many of his collections, and scanning the titles, I remember a few of them. His novellas - Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption, Apt Pupil, The Body, The Life of Chuck, Mr. Harrigan's phone - have made a big impact on me, his short stories less so, so I guess it's not especially disappointing that I didn't love this collection. 

Two Talented Bastids - not bad, but I couldn't sink into it - I kept feeling like I could see the bones under the story.

The Fifth Step - almost seemed beneath King. Bit of a cheap gimmick.

Willie the Weirdo - I suppose this is inevitable when he's written so very many, and it's admirable that it doesn't happen more often, but this was too close to another grandparent/grandchild story of his for my taste. Also icky, but that's a personal opinion.

Danny Coughlin's Bad Dream - Prophetic dream, bad treatment by the police, longing, terror - really liked this one.

Finn - for a beat I didn't realize Danny Coughlin's Bad Dream had ended and this was a new story. Left me a bit cold.

On Slide Inn Road - meh

Red Screen - Interesting concept, too open-ended for me

The Turbulence Expert - I think I may have read this one before. Pretty good - I hate flying, so the flying fear is effective for me.

Laurie - not really exceptional, but I always like a grumpy-old-man-get-a-dog story.

Rattlesnakes - Vic Trenton, the dad from Cujo, 40 years later. This is not the story I would have chosen to have him reintroduced. Evil twins and snakes. I vastly prefer Doctor Sleep as a follow-up to The Shining.

The Dreamers - petty creepy and effective, but Vietnam? 

The Answer Man - Beautiful but terribly, terribly sad, to the point where I almost felt like the author was too cruel for writing it (which is maybe a compliment?). A devastating treatment of the question of whether we really do want certain questions answered. Gah, I'm tearing up just remembering it. It's amazing. Don't read it.