Ben > Recent Status Updates

Bloody HELL, this is heavy.

'For him, it was enough. He'd heard once that to quit anything that got ahold of you, you had to give yourself up to a higher power. His kids were it.
Now they were gone.'

Managed to read a bit during my lunch break at work. Would prefer not to have to lug an 800 page book around with me all day, but so far it's worth it.

‘The Kindness is our defence against disintegration, and we would do well to give it some thought now and again. It is so important, yet at the same time so fragile. What happens if the Kindness crumbles away, and what will become of us?’

I'm loving more than I'm hating, now. Struggling to put it down because you can tell something is coming and I keep wanting to know what it is. Then what the next thing is going to be. That last chapter was actually kinda heartbreaking. One more to go, but I'll have to save that for tomorrow.

Heard this was a love it or hate it book, but tbh I'm having a very mixed time of it. Hated the prologue and first chapter, pretty much loved the second, and the jury is out on the third (current) chapter...

Mocking conspiracy theorists (and their Jew hate)? Ahh, that's the good stuff!

'Thinking to herself that truly evil people were always too stupid, too lost in their own paranoid daydreams, to know they were evil.'

'[...] most really bad men thought entirely in clichés. [...] most of them brimmed with the stalest sort of rubbishish [...]'

The 'trite checklist'? THAT CHECKLIST! So accurate. Joe Hill, you mensch!

The only bad thing about this book is it’s too big to take with me when I have to leave the house. I can’t be carrying that around all day at work.

The Jaws of Ouroboros by Steve Toase: Folk horror, body horror, a mob boss. Not what I was expecting at all. Really cool story.

The First Order of Whaleyville's Divine Basilisk Handlers by Eric J. Guignard: Loved this from start to finish. The religious fanaticism was awful, the mythology really drew me in, and I couldn't help but like Davey. Especially with the tarts...

This collection has been consistently good!

The Fruit by Lindsay King-Miller: Intimate, tragic and heartbreakingly inevitable. Loved the lore, and that the horrific is beautiful.

Come Let Us Kiss and Part by Nikki Dolson: One of those bleak short stories that seems inevitable and deflates you. Noice!

Mi Shebeirach by J. R. Angelella: Molly is usually just a driver, but finds herself having to take a more active role in crime. Short stories often end abruptly or with a bit of a gutpunch and this had a much needed more hopeful ending.

Twenty Centuries by James D. F. Hannah: Police officer investigates a strange death. Really liked this one.

If I Were a Rich Man by Lee Goldberg: Deceit upon twisted deceit. Most of the characters are gits. Resulted in a pretty cool story!

Sire of the Hatchet by Coy Hall: Medieval witch trial vibes, with creepy small town folklore.

Back Along the Old Track by Sam Hicks: A man's relaxing holiday in Kent becomes Lovecraftian. Really liked this one!