Status Updates From The Black Seal and Other St...

The White Powder: banger!! written with such energy and vigor, I was from beginning to end fully gripped by this story. absolutely beautifully grotesque prose, paced incredibly, and just so descriptive and evocative. brilliant final story to the collection

The Red Hand: crossover!! connecting the myths of The Black Seal and The Shining Pyramid, and thereby creating a larger mythos of "The Little People," (which then connects with Out of the Earth/The Bowman and The White People as well, kinda,) this was good!! I feel like Machen's best stories are the ones where he goes full Weird detective mystery on us.

Out of the Earth/The Bowman: ??? a weird one. I don't quite understand. it wasn't bad but I also didn't like it. hmm

The Shining Pyramid: another folk-mystery one that was fun to read, but ultimately kind of a letdown in terms of the actual story.

The White People: a very atmospheric and folky and witchy tale that was pretty interesting to read, but ultimately didn't do much for me. definitely the weakest of the stories so far, imo.

The Great God Pan: fucking GOATed. incredible. following different characters at different places in time, but connected through a rather mysterious and horrific unifying thread, it's one of the most engaging and immersive stories I've ever read. Machen's skill in weaving an intriguing mystery, while all shrouded in an oppressive atmosphere of unknown and otherworldly horrors is MASTERFUL. truly one of the greats.

The Black Seal: omg!! that was amazing!! probably my favorite of all of Lovecraft's influences I've read so far! Machen has such great skills in making even the "drab" portions of this style of narrative super engaging to read. this story gets a 10/10, and I am PUMPED to continue reading his stuff

read for some freak shit

i fucking hate this book

i genuinely hate this book so much. i just am finishing it to prove to myself i can but fr every second is torture.