Status Updates From Picking the Bones

Just read "Guardian." My God, Brian Hodge is something else. Always defying the expectations, never going for the easy at-bat.

When the Bough Doesn't Break
An intriguing take on God and pagans in a timeless Gaelic tale told anew.

Our Turn Too...
Quite an eerie yarn about a family "blessing" brought over from Scotland.

A Good Dead Man is Hard to Find
Best of the book so far, this fun tale brings together Hyde, Burke and Hare, and Dr. Pretorius of Frankenstein fame in a rollicking good time. I wish the Nyxon compilation had worked out.

Hate the Sinner...
A smart tale with a great ending involving a cult devoted to sin.

Guardian
A cool little twist on the idea of otherworldly forces having your back.

When the Silence
A fantastic cautionary tale dealing with toxic masculinity and fathers.

Where the Black Stars Fall
Interesting take on the arc of love.

Re Your Application...
A hilarious, tongue-in-cheek slant on the inner workings of an Orwellian agency of blame.

And They Will Come...
Hauntingly and achingly gorgeous tale of war and the role of angels...both as it truly happened and as wished.

An Ounce of Prevention...
An interesting take on how hatred can feed on itself even between separate people and separate targets...and the similarities of generations.

Pull
A gripping story that somehow fails to utilize it's horror undercurrent to a worthwhile extent, leading it to feel tacked-on and poorly explored.

Brushed in Blackest Silence
Intriguing tale combining the history of Goya's black paintings with fictional hero Van Helsing. Suitably mysterious and worthy of the horror of the art itself, I'd pay good money for more of these exploits.

The Firebrand Symphony
An error, well-written Lovecraftian tale and f cosmic horror. It does for sound what Colour Out Of Space did for visual concepts of that alien to us, yet somehow familiar.