Plot: Jephro Hastie, a student at “Old College” at Oxford, is visiting with his friend, medical student Abercrombie Smith, in the latter’s third-floor turret room. Hastie warns him about the student in the room below his, Edward Bellingham. “There’s something damnable about him. My gorge always rises around him. I should put him down asContinue reading “Review of “Lot No. 249” by Arthur Conan Doyle: Halloween Countdown”
Tag Archives: writing
Review of “The Kit-Bag” by Algernon Blackwood: Halloween Countdown
Plot: The successful defense of John Turk, a client of the great Arthur Wilbraham, KC, brings the barrister no joy. His private secretary, Johnson, is glad to be rid of the case. Despite the verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity, he agrees with the general sentiment that few men were more deserving ofContinue reading “Review of “The Kit-Bag” by Algernon Blackwood: Halloween Countdown”
Review of “A Ghost Story” by Mark Twain: Halloween Countdown
Plot: The narrator recounts that he took a large room in a huge old building. The upper stories, where his room is, have been unoccupied for years and have long given up to cobwebs, solitude, and silence. He feels he’s invading the privacy of the dead. For the first time in his life, a superstitiousContinue reading “Review of “A Ghost Story” by Mark Twain: Halloween Countdown”
Review of “The Furnished Room” by O. Henry: Halloween Countdown
Plot: In the turn of the century New York’s Lower West Side, a young man seeks to rent a room. After confirming with the prospective landlady that she rents to a lot of “theatrical people,” he asks if she has recently rented to Miss Eloise Vashner. “[D]o you remember such a one among your lodgers?Continue reading “Review of “The Furnished Room” by O. Henry: Halloween Countdown”
Review of “Fishhead” by Irvin S. Cobb: Halloween Countdown
Plot: “Fishhead” is the unkind name given to the mixed-race main character who lived by swampy Reelfoot Lake in Tennessee. The lake was created by an 1811 series of earthquakes, which caused an area of land to subside and the Mississippi to flood in. Fishhead’s “half-breed Indian” mother—so the story goes—was frightened by one ofContinue reading “Review of “Fishhead” by Irvin S. Cobb: Halloween Countdown”
Review of “The Entail” by E. T. A. Hoffmann: Halloween Countdown
Plot:Our hero’s great-uncle V— works as a law agent and “Justitiarius” (other translations call him “Advocate”) for the family of Freiherr (Baron)* R—. Our hero is named V—like his great-uncle. He accompanies the elder V— to the family estates to attend to R— family business. Uncle V—’s usual rooms are unavailable, having suffered a catastrophicContinue reading “Review of “The Entail” by E. T. A. Hoffmann: Halloween Countdown”
Review of “The Dead Woman” by David H. Keller: Halloween Countdown
Plot:The authorities find Mr. Thompson, a bookkeeper, “slightly confused, a trifle bewildered, but otherwise apparently normal.” He makes no effort to conceal his conduct, the knife in his hand, or “the pieces in the trunk.” Rather than taking him directly to the slammer, the police bring him to a psychiatrist. Mr. Thompson tells the psychiatristContinue reading “Review of “The Dead Woman” by David H. Keller: Halloween Countdown”
Review of “Count Magnus” by M. R. James: Halloween Countdown
Plot:The story’s narrator says he has come into possession of some papers belonging to Mr. Wraxall, a traveler and writer of travel guides. In the early summer of 1863, Mr. Wraxall sets off to explore Sweden. At the time, most Britons considered Scandinavia to be a backwater. Snobs. He spends time conducting research at aContinue reading “Review of “Count Magnus” by M. R. James: Halloween Countdown”
Review of “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe: Halloween Countdown
Plot:Montresor tells the reader that he had borne the injuries from his friend Fortunato as best he could, but when Fortunato insulted him, he vowed revenge. He kept up the pretense of friendship until he could exact his revenge—and he would do so with impunity. Fortunato’s weak point was his belief in his connoisseurship ofContinue reading “Review of “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe: Halloween Countdown”
Review of “The General” (1926)
A friend of my dearly beloved has been involved in the restoration of an old theater in Fullerton, California, for some years. The theater was originally built in 1925, in the days of silent movies. My dearly beloved remembers seeing movies there in the 80s. As a treat for some friends (and in hopes ofContinue reading “Review of “The General” (1926)”
Reviews of Old and New Stories. Mostly Old 