William Nesdale’s Reviews > Skeleton Crew > Status Update

Just started reading “The Ballad of the Flexibility ble Bullet” where a magazine editor recalls the days where he encounters a short story by Reg Thorpe and the domino effect that Reg’a fragile mind had on him.

I really like the storyline of it, as it dissects the madness of the mind with writing, while using a flashback device to recall how the editor went a little crazy thanks to Reg’s Ramblings.

Finished reading “Gramma”, where George has to contend with his Gramma’s sudden demise.

This story is a pretty slow burn, yet takes a rather supernatural twist when it comes to the confrontation between George & Gramma. To me, she’s still has the grotesque body type of Baron Vladimir Harkonnen.

Rating: 7/10

Just read the first half of “Gramma”, where a timid boy, named George, tries to take care of his big ugly grandmother while his mom leaves the house.

This story is suspenseful and really retches up the tension, while giving a bit of backstory about the anonymous Gramma and George’s fears surrounding her. By the way, Gramma is like Baron Vladimir Harkonnen from Dune, are they are both big vicious slobs.

Finished Big Wheels: A Tale of the Laundry Game, where two truckers, Rocky & Leo, meet up with an old friend of the former.

Looks like we have another underwhelming story from the collection, and it’s the most forgettable of the bunch due to a lack of Stephen King suspense and unmemorable concepts. Hey, not every short story works.

Rating: 6/10

Finished Milkman #1: Morning Deliveries, where a milkman, named Spike, delivers certain milk products to the neighbourhood.

This story is a simple delivery run of a story, but it does give off the feeling that Spike the Milkman isn’t a pleasant fellow, as he does sneak a few deadly surprises into unsuspecting victims’s groceries.

Rating: 7/10

Finished reading “Uncle Otto’s Truck”, where a nephew recounts the days of Uncle Otto & his truck, while recounting some of the rumours around Uncle Otto’s eccentric behaviour.

I do like the story in that it recounts Quinton, the first-person narrator, and his eccentric Uncle Otto. It starts out normally enough, but soon gets increasingly unsettling once the truck kills someone.

Rating: 8/10

Finished “Survivor Type” where Richard Pine slowly loses his sanity for being stuck on island for too long.

I knew this would turn into an Apocalyptic Log, i have a knack for getting some obvious clues about what will happen in the story. Anyway, this is a solid story about a man on an island slowly going insane.

Rating: 8/10

Just read the “January” section of Survivor Type, as we follow Richard Pine as he tries to survive on an island while recounting the memories of his past.

This style of storytelling, where we follow journal entries or Richard Pine, is a solid achievement of storytelling from a guy who usually doesn’t do that type of storytelling gimmick. I do hope this story ends up being a bunch of apocalyptic logs by the end

Just finished the shortest story of the collection “For Owen”.

This surrealist two page story is an absurd departure from the usual suspects of Stephen King trips, but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t any unsettling moments. I think that the fruits that the author sees are either a hallucination, or a metaphor for something.

Rating: 7/10