Read 2020 - 24 and 25 - Keep the Giraffe's, Rob

This is a two-piece what I've read post today.

Firstly, I almost read John Sladek's, Keep the Giraffe Burning. What an awful epitaph - I almost read. A wet Saturday afternoon, Storm Dennis, raging outside trying to fight Ciara for the noisiest and rowdiest storm of the year, and I curled up in my favourite chair by the window to read. I didn't have to go out anywhere. I didn't have to do anything. Despite this, my brain didn't fit too well in its skull and refused to make sense of anything I read.

I'd say the problem was 30% the book and 70% me. My mental health was in kick my eyeballs mode. At one point, I think I read a story about cockroaches taking over the world, it's also possible I didn't.

I'm not certain where, when or why I picked up this book. I'm guessing I bought it online as it was pristine (not a charity shop purchase) and priced in dollars.

The other story I read - when my head had cleared a little - was another of Rob Shearman's chapbooks from the forthcoming We all Hear Stories in the Dark. This was chapbook #67 - The Touch of Baby Stalin's Skin. Excellent as always.