Spookytimes+continuing short stories
- North American Lake Monsters by Nathan Ballingrud. Been on my list for years and I'm glad to have finally gotten to in. Not every story is a winner, but ends with a strong trio of title story, in which and angry ex-con hacks up a lake monster, "The Way Station," in which doubly homeless main displaced by Katrina seeks out his daughter, and "The Good Husband," in which the titular character
- The Mysterious Mr. Quin. Actually a Mr. Satterwaite is the protagonist. Aging, alone idle, a connoisseur of art and Duchesses, he really needs Quin to lead him to old mysteries to solve. None of the stories are that great, but all together it's quite the vibe!
- Different Seasons. Actually, I like all four of these novellas, though all have flaws. My favorite is the last one, "Breathing Lessons," for its frame-tale setting of a secret New York story-tellers' club. Next I think I'd go with "Apt Pupil" because the antagonist and protagonist are both despicable, followed by "The Body" because the writer's voice is a bit too overbearing closely followed by "Rita Hayworth..." which was just a little too... Shawshank.
- NYer of 2/28/22. Claire Keegan's "So Late in the Day."
- The Nation of Oct. 24. I am worried about Arab-American voters in Michigan.
- Ghost Summer by Tananarive Due. Divided into sections: "Gracetown" (Florida town haunted by racist past) "The Knowing" (weird relationships); "Carriers" (post-virus American, with the same character), "Vanishings" (dealing with death). "Gracetown" and "Carriers" stood out--though I don't really like zombie apocali.
- The Beast You Are by Paul Tremblay. This short story collection is easily the worst thing I've read by Tremblay.
- Ghost Stories edited by Joseph Lewis French. Tbh, the best were the best remembered: M.R. James and Blackwood.
- Hack/Slash Omnibus vol. 1. Some good world building in bits and pieces.