Gary K Bibliophile > Recent Status Updates

Quitter’s Inc. - another really good one - and I guess another reason to watch the movie Cat’s Eye 🐈‍⬛👁️

Scionwood
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The Ruby Slipper
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Hydrophobia
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OAS - oral allergy syndrome
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“Haunting was not about death, but rather about something clinging to this world, something that did not belong in it.”
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Black Velvet & Orange Lump
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The Unspeakable Thing

Black Witch Moth

The Lawnmower Man - I remember seeing this movie and thinking “WTF is this?” I had heard SK strongly disapproved. Having finally read the short story I can see why. The movie bears little resemblance to its origin focusing more on a Flowers for Algernon type approach and trying to incorporate 3D rendering (new at the time) into the story. This was more about ghosts in the machines (recurring theme in book)

The Ledge - I really like this one. Nothing supernatural this time, but twisted nonetheless. I guess this was added as part of the movie Cat’s Eye, which I guess I have to get around to watching too.

Strawberry Spring - at only 10 pages long this one was still pretty good, but just when it was getting interesting it came to an abrupt end. I liked it though - beware Springheel Jack

Sometimes They Come Back - aka “Malefic Spirits and How to Call Them.” At 30 pages this one was a little longer so you could get into the story a little more. Looking into this one further, I didn’t realize that this was made into a movie. It doesn’t review very well, but I’ll probably check it out anyway.

Trucks – from the title alone I thought it might be a precursor to the short story Throttle cowritten by SK and son Joe Hill. It didn’t take long to figure out that this is not the case at all this is quite a different story. Like many in this collection it is too short to get into much character development or explain what’s really going on. Interesting though.

“She’d spent her evening drinking white wine and reading a nasty little book called Bethany’s Sin, which she’d tossed away in boredom after the fourth chapter.” - hahaha

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And so it begins… Horrorfest 2026 🧟🧛‍♂️🐈‍⬛🦉🐦‍⬛👻

“Before us, all methods of learning were tainted by instinct. We learned how to learn. Before us, instinct-ridden researchers possessed a limited attention span—often no longer than a single lifetime. Projects stretching across fifty or more lifetimes never occurred to them.“. - Bene Gesserit Creed
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A gift named Hayt (rhymes with hate) - no red flags there 😀

Battleground – based on the title alone, I could have tried to guess what this was about and not come across the right answer for several years. I bet SK had a lot of fun writing this. It was a lot of fun to read. 🥜

Blue Shirt, White Tee
White Shirt, Blue Tee
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Sons of Albion (hey… I actually get that reference since it was explained in the Matthew Corbett series 😀)
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Larry, Curly, & Moe

Gray Matter - another interesting short story. It reminded me a bit of Jordy Verrill. I watched a YouTube video about someone connecting this into the 'IT' universe... well... maybe. That was a dozen years later, but SK likes to interconnect his stories in fun ways (things for the 'Calvins' to find 😀)

Cloaca - I am pretty sure I have never read a book with more references to ‘cloaca’ than this one 😀. I did a search on Kindle… 26 references. Such a weird word.

The Boogeyman - this one was really good and also felt like a Twilight Zone episode. There is a fun connection that I’m not sure a lot of people caught. SK mentions a story from Tales from the Crypt… about someone who drowned their husband and they came back.

The same idea that SK revisited in Creepshow in 1982. The story with Ted Danson. 🧟. When I googled this I saw no mentions on the internets - haha

“if insurrection in given cases may be, as Lafayette says, the most holy of duties, an uprising may be the most fatal of crimes.

There is also a difference in the intensity of heat; insurrection is often a volcano, revolt is often only a fire of straw.”

The Mangler-
“blood of a virgin, graveyard dirt, hand of glory, bat's blood, night moss, horse's hoof, eye of toad..

Based on the title I did not know what to expect for this one. Kind of a ghost in the machine story. I was hesitant to google… the hand of glory… but when I did I was like “Oh that’s that thing from Middlegame, by Seanan McGuire” Pretty interesting short story.

Qu’il luise ou qu’il luiserne, L’ours rentre en sa caverne.
Or…
Let it gleam or let it glimmer. The bear returns into his cave

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All the problems which the socialists propounded, aside from the cosmogonic visions, dreams, and mysticism, may be reduced to two principal problems.
First problem: To produce wealth.
Second problem: To distribute it.

The Parisian Gamin - The Paris gamin is respectful, ironical, and insolent. He has bad teeth, because he is poorly fed, and his stomach suffers, and fine eyes because he has genius… As sum total, and to embrace all in a world, the gamin is a being who amuses himself because he is unfortunate.
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Patron-Minette means morning, just as entre chien et loup [between dog and wolf], means night.

Petit-Picpus
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“… in which were four different wines. Upon the first goblet he read this inscription: Monkey wine, upon the second: lion wine, upon the third: sheep wine, upon the fourth: swine wine. These four inscriptions expressed the four descending degrees of drunkenness: the first, that which enlivens; the second, that which irritates; the third, that which stupefies; finally the last, that which brutalises.”

Shoes in the Fireplace

Three ways to deal with the Evil One

I haven’t completely mapped out my trip to Paris next month yet, but I’m definitely not going to steal any apples 🍎😀

Going on a trip to France/England in about a month’s time. While on the British side of the channel we’ve already got tickets to this so wanted to be prepared 😀 quite a long book

A shame. In the end, I rather liked her.”

“She was a fucking fiend.” Gabriel fixed bleary eyes on the Marquis, his voice thick with wine. “Butcher of thousands. Slayer of innocent women and children. A bloodthirsty murderess with nothing close to a conscience.”

“As I say.” Jean-François shrugged. “I rather liked her.”

I am the Doorway - this one was very short, but interesting. Felt like an episode of The Twilight Zone. Early sci-fi from SK - written in 1971. Sadly he was off in his optimistic prediction that we would land on Mars in 1979. 🚀 I do now understand the 1979 paperback cover I see a lot online - very cool 👁️👁️👁️

A blade and half a clue are twice as dangerous as no blade or clue at all’
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“Ever outnumbered, Never outmatched. Always, Lions.”
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“Surround yourself with folk who confront you. If you’re not being challenged, you’re not learning anything. If you’re the smartest man in the room, you’re in the wrong fucking room.”
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Dún Maergenn
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Nine Swords
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Potato Surprise
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White Rabbit

‘I heard ye were dead, de León.’
‘Heaven was full. And the devil was afraid to open the door.’
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“So, the best Dyvok warriors fight in an ancient coldblood style called the Anyja. The Tempest.”
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Duskdancer

‘A life without books is a life not lived, Dior. There’s a magik like no other to be found in them. To open a book is to open a door—to another place, another time, another mind. And usually, mademoiselle, it’s a mind far sharper than your own.’

It’s been a while since I started a book that I was really excited to dive into (some might even say “sink my teeth into”). Based on the first one in this series I’m hoping I will love this one 🧛‍♂️🗡️