Author Archives: 9siduri

Review of “The Spiral Staircase” (1946)

Plot: In turn-of-the-century New England, a mute woman named Helen (Dorothy McGuire) attends a (silent) film shown at a local inn. While she’s there, an unnamed woman (Myrna Dell) who limps (“a cripple”), an inn resident, is strangled by a man who’d hidden in her closet. This follows the murder of another woman, a “simple-mindedContinue reading “Review of “The Spiral Staircase” (1946)”

Review of “Magical Delicacies for Birthday Girls” by Avra Margariti

Plot: For Holly’s twelfth birthday, her mother had taken her to the unicorn pen. Her mother went into the butcher shop to get Holly a delicacy.  Bored with adult talk, Holly goes to look at the unicorn on display in a glass case outside the shop. For years, she’d been begging her parents for aContinue reading “Review of “Magical Delicacies for Birthday Girls” by Avra Margariti”

Review of “U-Phone XV Presents Insta-Post” by James Rumpel

Plot: Rachel Shommer and her fiancé, Jeremy Nybor, eagerly await the release of U-Phone XV’s instant posting feature. It will allow the user to post thoughts without the hassle of typing. All anyone has to do is merely think, and their thoughts are posted. “My first insta-post will be one saying how much I loveContinue reading “Review of “U-Phone XV Presents Insta-Post” by James Rumpel”

Review of “Be Nice to the Butcher” by Danny Macks

Plot: The unnamed narrator describes the stranger who strikes up a conversation with him: “the friendly type, grey at the temples, with the stocky blue-collar build of a man who never lifted a barbell in his life, but could still bench-press me over his head.” They talk about this and that, discuss what brought themContinue reading “Review of “Be Nice to the Butcher” by Danny Macks”

Review of “Thirst” by K.N. George

Plot: The narrator tells the reader Danny Trank hanged himself in the garage three days earlier. People say you could hear his mother’s screams from across the neighborhood. It wasn’t a surprise, and after all, it wasn’t like the narrator and Danny were friends. Danny was just another sad sack. He and his buddy JayContinue reading “Review of “Thirst” by K.N. George”

Review of “This is How the Rain Falls” by M.K. Hutchins

Image by Roman Grac from Pixabay Plot: The narrator used to love the rain, but then the boy attacked, beat, and robbed her in the rain. Ten years later, she’s at a bus stop, watching bus after bus pass by. She doesn’t want to risk getting caught in the rain, even for a little while.Continue reading “Review of “This is How the Rain Falls” by M.K. Hutchins”

Review of “The Deadly Mantis” (1957)

Image from IMDB Saturday pizza and bad movie night with a Svengoolie rerun we’d never seen Plot: Somewhere in the South Seas, a volcano erupts. Nothing happens in isolation, of course. As they told us in junior high science class, lo, many years ago, “for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.” So,Continue reading “Review of “The Deadly Mantis” (1957)”

Review of “Hero” by Harris Coverley

Image by Dimitris Vetsikas from Pixabay Plot: Everyone appears to be dead and unburied except for the narrator, who, it becomes clear, did not kill anyone. He (?) finds ways to fill the time. He drains a stagnant lake (“they’re all stagnant anyway,” he tells the reader) just to see what’s on the bottom. HeContinue reading “Review of “Hero” by Harris Coverley”

Review of “Munster, Go Home” (1966)

Image from IMDB Plot: Coming home from work at the funeral parlor one day, Herman Munster (Fred Gwynne) finds the family waiting for him. It seems there’s a letter from some lawyer in England. The late lord Munster has just shuffled off this mortal coil, and left his entire estate, including the title to—yep—Herman. AfterContinue reading “Review of “Munster, Go Home” (1966)”