Status Updates From The Fall (Tales From the Gu...

Excursion Troop - 5/5 - A Venture Scout troop's last excursion does not go as planned. If you've been paying attention to the stories so far, anyone veering toward the Gulp or mushrooms or the creeks sounds like the start of a bad idea. This story has all three! And oh, the body horror. Mushroom eyes - let me leave you with that.

That Damn Woman - 3/5 - Tragedy strikes after a domestic (he struck her, but was not the killing blow. I'd still argue the accident was his fault for being a dumbass, though). Then choices are made. Then things get weird.

I feel like this one may have taken too long to get weird for me, but once it did, it didn't fuck about. Delicious consequences. The dog is OK. The cows are not.

Cathedral Stack - 4/5 - A fishing expedition gone awry. Fantastic, atmospheric, tragic, delightful. Denuding/degloving in this one. Big icks, pleased to have felt them. A couple typos in this one that slightly threw my immersion.

Gulpepper Curios - 4/5 - A traveler ignores advice to give Gulpepper a miss and finds more than he could have wanted in the local curios shop. Really enjoyed this one. I think perhaps the last two lines should have been swapped, though. Either way, a strong start to this one.

Oh yes, I've ventured into the Gulp and decided to stick around for the next collection or two.

The Fall (2/3 done - last story): looks like the world is coming apart at the seams. One stitch at a time.

The Fall (1/3 done - last story):
This is the”tie it up with a bow” ending to this collection and I can already smell the uniqueness of the tale. It reeks, and appropriately so.

Excursion Troop (end):
It’s never too late to change your mind and NOT take that road to The Gulp. Never too late but entirely doubtful it will cross your mind. This little gem of a story demonstrates the grip Baxter can place on his reader. On to the last story in this collection and looking forward to it too.

Excursion Trip (1/2 way): shades of Camp Crystal Lake but Lord, what is this hang-up with mushrooms?🍄‍🟫 🍄‍🟫🍄‍🟫🍄‍🟫😄

That Damn Woman (end): got a lot of jellyfish-like tendrils grabbing and yanking all these Gulp stories together but the are so cleverly devised story to story. Great nitpicking details in this one. You know what’s coming but like a car wreck you have to keep looking, biting your nails the whole time.

That Damn Woman (cont)

That Damn Woman (halfway):
This story! Going back to the fungus I see😂

Cathedral Stack (end):
Now we’re talking! This story reminds me of Overlord, a corroborative book by Alan Baxter and David Wood. Might be a favorite story from The Gulp collections. Have to see where we go from here.

Cathedral Stack (halfway): Now this is the Alan Baxter I recall from The Roo, one of my all-time favorite creature books!

Gulpepper Curios(end):
Okay, I recently got into a 1970s Brit series called Thriller.
That’s where I am with this story in particular. Same flavor, weird vibe, and unshakable sense of “oh Lord that smarts”❣️❣️❣️

Gulpepper Curios (cont): that little bit made me shudder

Gulpepper Curios (cont):
More details about The Gulp, like how it’s laid out and names of specific locations, ingeniously and kindly introduced. Still getting that Goosebumps vibe I had with the original set of The Gulp stories but a bit of Rod Serling creeping around the edges of this new book.

“…“mysterious things and stuff not so easily explained”
Excerpt From The Fall, “Gulpepper Curios”
By Alan Baxter

His own words so appropriately describe the story so far.