Status Updates From Nightingale Songs

When Sorrows Come. 4.5.Really mysterious and full of foreboding. Ending a bit too definite to be entirely satisfying 45.5/12

Everything Floats. 3. Compelling most of the way but ends up jarringly (not in a good way) grim and flat. 41:11

Mr Kneale. 2.5. Not especially haunting and not especially interesting. A further variation (though not especially varied) on the mysterious soul-sapping or parasitic figure/doppelgänger that I am starting to feel are overrunning this book. 38:10

Something New. 3.5. This sets out wonderfully mysterious and unnerving, alienation and mystification abounding, though collapses in a heap of pointlessly weird. First 90% is a real trip, though. 35.5:9

Indelible Stain. 4.5. Suddenly the book is picking up. This is a grim tale of foreshadowing and loss and ripples through time. I think. Disturbing anyway. 32:8

Pale Light. 4.5. What keeps us from noticing the strange things in the world - and maybe even causes (or attracts?) them? Quite unsettling yet lucidly written. 27.5:7

Nightingale. 3.5. Again, a good read but not a very terrifying or logical “monster”23:6

Tend Your own Garden. 4. Interesting though obscure. Starting to all feel a bit Kafkaesque. Good writing but never fully hits the mark for me. 19.5:5

Unreasonable Doubt 4. Close to a traditional ghost story but not quite…15.5:4

Sound of Slumber. Intriguing premise, and a promise of dark things. Unfortunately not an entirely realised promise - we do end on a climax this time but rather more conventional than the story may have led us to expect. A good read nonetheless. 4. 11.5:3

Fathers Daughter. 4. The story has you on edge and holding your breath, though the ending is just a gentle exhalation rather than a jolt. Very enjoyable read but not sure I noticed a punchline/wallop. May repay a re-read but currently feels little more than a slightly strange incident. 7.5:2

Out of Touch. 3.5. Entirely readable and truly strange but I found myself wondering what the point was and whether there was anything underlying the eeriness. Maybe not immersed in Strantzas’ world enough just yet. Let’s see after another couple of stories.