For October 15 Plot:The story is presented in a series of journal entries. Things start happily. The narrator appears wealthy enough to have servants and something of an estate. He contemplates the invisible though our are senses too poor to perceive it: “we can see neither the inhabitants of a star nor of a dropContinue reading “Review of “The Horla” by Guy de Maupassant: Halloween Countdown”
Tag Archives: reality v. illusion
Review of “The Bad Lands” by John Metcalfe: Halloween Countdown
For October 4 Plot: To “slay the demon of neurosis,” Brent Ormerod takes a vacation in the quiet town of Todd on the Norfolk coast of England. As part of his treatment, he gets plenty of exercise and fresh air. He returns to the hotel from these daily walks exhausted and sleeps. Things go wellContinue reading “Review of “The Bad Lands” by John Metcalfe: Halloween Countdown”
Review of “The Man Who Killed Don Quixote” (2018)
We watched an oddball film for our Saturday pizza and bad movie night, a sad movie that dealt with dreams, fantasy v. reality, guilt, and a bit of insanity. Plot: The movie opens the line: And now… after more than 25 years of making… and unmaking. The viewer first sees a storybook of Don QuixoteContinue reading “Review of “The Man Who Killed Don Quixote” (2018)”
Review of “The Beckoning Fair One” by Oliver Onions Halloween Countdown
Plot: Forty-four-year-old novelist Paul Oleron rents the first floor of a house to finish his novel, Romilly Bishop. He has fifteen chapters. He needs a quiet, pleasant place to concentrate. The house needs a bit of sprucing up. He hires people to paint and then moves in some furniture he has in storage that hisContinue reading “Review of “The Beckoning Fair One” by Oliver Onions Halloween Countdown”
Review of “The Beast with Five Fingers” (1946)
This is this week’s Saturday pizza and bad movie offering. We watched it with Svengoolie. Plot:Around the turn of the twentieth century, renowned American pianist Francis Ingram (Victor Francen) suffered a stroke. He lives in isolation in a villa near the remote Italian village of San Stefano. Though he uses a wheelchair and remains paralyzedContinue reading “Review of “The Beast with Five Fingers” (1946)”
Review of “The Sandman” by E. T. A. Hoffmann
This is a classic horror story, first published in 1816 in a collection titled “Nachtstücke” (“Night Pieces”) by E. T. A. Hoffmann, a writer, composer, and caricaturist with a day job as a jurist. It remains one of his most often anthologized works in English—and little wonder. Even if the language is a bit thickContinue reading “Review of “The Sandman” by E. T. A. Hoffmann”
Review of “World Builder” by R. Michael
Orion Nebula Image courtesy of Pixabay Plot: Rich, a corporal serving the Panstellar Conglomerate, has orders to destroy a craft. He’s not been told much else about it. When he locates it near the heart of the cosmic cloud, he pulls back to watch in fascination as it appears to convert star debris into aContinue reading “Review of “World Builder” by R. Michael”
Review of “The Death of Bees” by Avra Margariti
Plot: The unnamed narrator has an online girlfriend, Anastasia, who is writing an essay about the population depletion of bees. When the narrator looks out her (?) bedroom window, she sees fuzzy insects landing on the lilacs. Homeschooled, she later asks her parents why the bees on their property seem to be thriving. This questionContinue reading “Review of “The Death of Bees” by Avra Margariti”
Reviews of Old and New Stories. Mostly Old 