Status Updates From 100 Hair-Raising Little Hor...

This is one of the best collections I’ve read. I have started putting post it tabs at my favorites so I can read them again.

"Masque" by Ed Gorman (1990) - Nothing new or inventive, and the writing isn't even very good.

"The Middle Toe of the Right Foot" by Ambrose Bierce (1890) - Now this is some good writing. Somehow both gothic and concise. Beautifully grotesque sense of place and description of the main character. Clever little plot twist.

"Mariana" by Fritz Lieber (1960) - So disturbing. Sort of a sci-fi Bluebeard story, but without the actual Bluebeard.

“The Marble Hands” 1915 Capes - maybe where De Palma got the idea for the ending to Carrie

“Making Friends” 1987 Raisor. Ah the adulterated Halloween candy trope.

EDIT: apparently there are still parish clerks, go figure. But the modern role is somewhat different than in 1912, when the expectation was that they lit stoves and candles, dressed the rector, and readied the church for services.

"The Kirk Spook" 1912 (Swain) Not sure of the point of this one, but amused by opening (in jest?) assertion that soon no one will have met a parish clerk, as the profession is nearly extinct. And indeed it is, so extinct that if the story hadn't gone on to describe the duties, I'd have no idea what it was.

"The Jam" 1986 (Slesar) When road ragers get to where they're going. Flash fiction, but fun.