Philip Athans > Recent Status Updates

"Father" is pretty much exactly what it feels like, unfortunately.

"Are You a Doctor?" was… puzzling.

…in which Tom hypnotizes a leopard.

"They're Not Your Husband" is an unsettling tale of insecurity and fat-shaming.

Boy, ya never can trust dem dames, eh?

In Chapter9 "A Farewell Surprise," we're "treated" some wildly overt racism as Tom prepares to journey to the Belgian Congo where his father warns him "it's difficult to win the friendship of primitive people," then the kooky cook Chow shows up in black face.

Because… 1956…?

From the story "Trash":

We were hunkered on the floor with just our heads showing over the windowsill and were looking at a man who was standing and looking into his own bedroom window.

The first story of issue six, "The Woman Who Loved Life," is definitely a threat to the moral hygiene of America's youth.

"Neighbors" is creepy.

The first story, "Fat," is immensely complex for a 400-page novel, but miraculous as a four-page short story.

So far, so good, Mr. Bradbury!

(One poem a day.)

"She'll Never Leave the Attic" is the most emotionally mature story so far, and quite beautiful, really.

Sort of dipping in and out of this book in ten or eleven page bites. Not sure why.

"The Succubus of the Opera" is my favorite story in the collection so far. A brilliantly bizarre monologue.

From the titular "Dinner on Monster Island":

"When the monster eats your neighbor for lunch, are you as culpable for your inaction as the people who led it to the door? Who does it eat for dinner when it returns for you and finds your house empty?"