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“The boy was fascinated by the robot's plural awareness. The fact that Clovis was in many places at once seemed like a magic trick. In fact, it had not been uncommon among the Anth... but they had never managed the trick so gracefully.”

“Another espresso for the master mathematician! The portafilter clacked; the steam nozzle whooshed. Had the Anth, in all their art and craft, built anything better than the espresso machine? Possibly they had not.” I’m loving this world so much.

“I could not work this place out. I could not even form a theory. It was a mash-up, a pile-up, not so much anachronistic as everything all at once. Of course, the Anth had always lived like this. Encrypted phones alongside incense sticks, coruscating networks alongside printed books. Nothing was ever erased.
Even so: a castle?
I was all questions: when, and where, and why.” This is frickin fantastic!!

"I think that, sooner or later, things like you always begin to repeat themselves, because things like you know only a very few simple tricks. After a while, someone always sees through them. I think that is all that saves us, ever."

“I think that real friendship always makes us feel such sweet gratitude, because the world almost always seems like a very hard desert, and the flowers that grow there seem to grow against such high odds.” ❤️‍🩹 I miss my best friend.

Who’s narrating?! It’s an entertaining voice.

“Flagg was a sickness, a fever looking for a cool brow to heat up. He hooded his actions just as he hooded his face. And when the great trouble came-as it always did after a span of years—Flagg always disappeared like shadows at dawn.
Later, when the carnage was over and the fever had passed, when the rebuilding was complete and there was again something worth destroying, Flagg would appear once more.”

“I will grant her desire, for I owe the seed of Shieldheart a death.” 💀

Oh, Glorian!

"A few years ago, an ancient compass came into my keeping. At some point in time, its needle had rusted in place, she said. 'I was like that compass when you found me. I had finally established a safe place, a home, in Perunta. But the longer you remain still, the more rust starts to cover you, and underneath, you become fragile. And soon it hurts to move at all.”

“La Mala Hora” by Alex Segura
3/5

Although scary and sad (and more latin representation is always welcomed) it was quite simple.

“Wrong F*cking Place, Wrong F*cking Time” by C. Robert Cargill
5/5
So much fun between the sweetness of human connection, the horror/pop culture references and the actual slasher-like ending.

“Prey Instinct” by Hailey Piper
3/5
Although more poetic than the previous ones and certainly creepy, not my favorite story.

“The Hope Boat” by Gabino Iglesias
5/5

Not only is this set in Puerto Rico (!), but the rawness in the narrative voice was striking.
As if building on top of the trauma explored in the previous story, this one skips “the details” for a shorter story that delivers a sorrowful ending.

“Sandra cried and prayed and held her mother's rosary against her daughter's bloated face, but God was tending to the apocalypse and her prayers went unanswered.”
uf

“Nothing reveals the uselessness of words quite like the presence of Death, riding its black horse silently down your street with its scythe at the ready.”

“Lenora” by Jonathan Janz
3.7/5

This author is great at imagery and immersion. I was moved by Baker’s tragic past.
It’s truly devastating to imagine being immune to a deathly virus and having to live in the world after already having lost all your loved ones.

“…he tapped out, preferring his modest library of movies to the real-time doom of humankind.”

“In a Pig’s Eye” by Joe R. Lansdale
3/5

‘“The dogs all died,” she said. “The people died. Damn cats lived on…”’

"Lockdown" by Bev Vincent
4/5
Although quite short, the particular setting and the abrupt ending made this quite a bleak one.

“Every Dog Has Its Day” by Bryan Smith
4.5/5!
I liked the simple yet ominous ambiance in this one and how it flips it at the end. Loved how it uses Flagg.

“Moreover, the things that are made, are visible, but he is invisible, and for this cause, he makes them, that he may be visible, and therefore he makes them always.” FASCINATING.

“As a good physician grieves the body, possessed of a disease, by burning or lancing it for health's sake.

After the same manner also the mind grieves the soul, by drawing it out of pleasure, from whence every disease of the soul comes.”

“For within he fills them, and without he contains them, giving life to the universe.”

“The Tripps” by Wrath James White 4/5

Really enjoyed this one!
It feels like the world of The Stand and we even get the first awesome appearances of my favorites.
Quite gnarly in its imagery and delivered a fun, tense and creepy vibe.