Doug Bolden > Recent Status Updates

Started this book once before but it did not stick with me for whatever reason, so trying it again.

The squished zit scene just ruined my damn night.

As you can see, I've settled in with some fine literature to go with my strong tea and stronger pipe this fine, freezing Sunday.

Started back up on this. Enjoying it more than I thought I would...but just wanted to chime in and say this is the mark where they casually namedrop the Necronomicon! For those playing along, take a shot!

Originally purchased because I am a fan of Ramsey Campbell and I wanted to see how badly this handled Glaaki...and I still don't know, but it has the guts to make Dennis Wheatley the Dr. Watson to Harry Houdini's Holmes...and I'm enjoying it, despite wanting to *tsk* on a semi-regular basis.

Dammit. I've been enjoying the slow build up to what the back-cover promised to be an old school ghost story (though I assumed more Henry than M.R.)...and I get to the more ghostly bit...and it's all... I don't know, is this a spoiler?, like...everyone is all "Oh, aye, ghosts, eh?" and then some of them may or may not have sex with said spooks, and I keep thinking of that "I thought you said goats!" joke...

While I prefer, so far, Nevill's longer works, I am impressed with the gonzo punch of these stories and their immediacy. "Mother's Milk" particularly is exactly the sort of thing that works in short rather than long.

Very nearly done, and through there have been some fair-to-good tales, it is not until the penultimate story, "The Red Bungalow," that this collection has its first great one .

This one is a bit of a bait and switch, since the story veers off from its cover blurb at about the 1/3 mark (which I sensed kind of quickly due to how fast things were progressing and how much book was left). I have [reasonable] suspicions about where things are going, but am at a part where I am unsure if the second POV character's POV is intriguing or irritating.

I keep chugging through, steadily growing to enjoy it (as much, or more, in an intellectual light as a read-for-pleasure one). Though several of the stories continue to dance around offensive stereotypes, very similar plots/characters, and true spooks are rare, there are things of interest: such as stories in which nightmare premonitions are actually followed (unlike, say, in an E.F. Benson tale).

The next two stories continued the trend of upper crust white bread having soggy adventures in various Asian climes, with generally a single spookum to punctuate their ordeals, but the shorter stories have a greater sense of piss-taking and thus are improved. Alas, story #4 threatens to swing long so I'll save it for later.

Title story is 75% upper class, colonialist whinging bordering on such an extreme you might take it as parody (I suspect it isn't, but unsure) though when it gets the ghostly bits it is alright. Strongly in the camp of spookums = adequate on their lonesome, as was the mode. More of interest to the historical record than good storytelling and has aged poorly.

I have no idea what possessed me to read another Wheatley (who, for me, is like a nice champagne, better in concept than execution), but I picked up my largish "Black Magic Series" on a whim and started reading this one. It's...ok so far, a bit of fun and a bit of lecture. We'll see how it turns out (the previous Wheatley I read turned tepid in the last third or so...).

Only a few pages into the first Christopher Moore book in awhile I considered a "must read". It definitely is less noir and more "Moore slacker comedy" than I expected, but is enjoyable in a "person has a funny name" sort of way.

I'm just now fully getting into the portion of the book where the famous Nevill brand of claustrophobia is kicking in, and feeling that well-remembered since of being crushed by prose. There is a hint of "Last Days" in some of the description, but I have a feeling this one is going weirder in the long run.

Gosh. This book is taking a while. While 600+ pages of ghost story is going to be a fearsome beast, it drags a bit because by this point in time, virtually every character, device, setting, or theme has been addressed by two or three previous stories in the collection. Now, towards the end of his ghost story days, at least Benson is willing to change up the morality a little, here or there, which helps.

There are some pretty notable typographical games being played here, but overall it's not too hard to read once you give yourself a few pages to get into the vibe, and the story is pretty heart-felt I feel. It can be going anywhere, at this point, but I'm digging it.

The blurb says that it is in the tradition of Wicker Man. That's not quite right. Closer, maybe, to something like Wake Wood. But good. Really like it.

This book feels odd in Discworld terms but I'm warming to it.

I've not been listening to this as I walk to work, which has slowed down my progress, but I am at least half-way done, maybe more.

I am listening to this as an audiobook, and Shearsmith is doing an amazing job. This time around I'm paying a lot more attention to the literary structure of the stories, the humanity of them, and find them completely effective without even the "ghostly" elements. It's possible to enjoy them even if you are not a fan of weird fiction.

I know it's been forever and a day since I've started this book, but have no picked it back up and am reading it at a clip.

Another of my hold-over books from last year. I think I have about 3 stories to finish in it. The page number is just a guess.

Good lord. Beautifully written, but the kind of the book that seems to take forever to read. It chews upon its own fat in a wistful, long eyed way. So thick with foreshadowing it nearly irks...

Got this in the mail today. Don't quite remember ordering it, but it sounds intriguing. Well, let's dig in.

Another of the wayward collections, I'm about 2/3s done with this one already. Hopefully will finish it today or tomorrow.

I'm around page 100. This is a short book, but it's vaguely like Christmas with the family after a rough year, some insightful moments and a vague sense of dread that the drunk uncle is going to show up at any moment.

It has been 20+ years since I've read this book, and at that time I was fairly upset by it and didn't quite like it. Figured it was worth a re-read on a sunny Sunday.