Status Updates From Things Withered

“Reclamation on the Forrest Floor” — beautifully evokes body horror with a turn at the end that I did not expect

“Night Beach” is a great story, about a girl who visits a lonely beach town to escape her recent mistakes.

“Petty Zoo” is the most straightforwardly horror so far, in which a visit to a mall petting zoo goes terribly, terribly wrong.

“The Audit” – the horrors of tax season are so often increased by our own anxieties

In “The Last Living Summer”, little old ladies in a beach town hold out against the apocalypse. Beautifully morose.

“Poor David” is a beautiful, powerful story of trauma and escalating anxiety. It’s also about relationships and how two people build a life together.

In “Wife,” a woman hides her inner awfuls under a veneer of housewifely duties. Excellent story.

“The Windemere” is about a middle aged woman working as a real estate broker, feeling a bit down and stuck in her life. As she’s working to hold onto her job, unfortunate accidents begin happening in the building in which she loves. Centered on character, this story is brilliant, the horror subtle and clear.

It's getting really good. Slightly disappointed/frustrated with the abrupt endings in the first 2 stories. Female Stephen King...?

Sigh.