The Weird: A Compendium of Strange and Dark Stories

[Marleen]

Next two:

Sanatorium under the Sign of the Hourglass: (view spoiler)[I don’t really know what was going on in this one. Most of it felt very much like dreams. The father was dead ‘in his own country’ but here time had been ‘turned back’? And the weird creepy train on the way there and back... SarahKat, I think it’s one of the two scenarios you suggested, but not a clue which one. I enjoyed the writing style though. (hide spoiler)]

Far Below: (view spoiler)[This one I liked a lot. Monsters in the subway tunnels, possibly evolved from humans or other beings that got trapped there, truly nightmare material... I liked the reference to Lovecraft, very meta. And I agree that the Lovecraft influence was clearly there in this one, especially regarding the Cosmic Horror of the creatures. (hide spoiler)]

[Marleen]

According to my ebook, I’m 25% of the way through now. My favorite stories of the first quarter of the book:
The Screaming Skull
Sredni Vashtar
The Spider
The Night Wire

[SarahKat, Buddy Reads]

Marleen wrote: "According to my ebook, I’m 25% of the way through now. "

Oh good to know! My favorites have been similar:

The Screaming Skull
The Willows
The Spider
The Night Wire
Far Below

[SarahKat, Buddy Reads]

My thoughts on today's stories:

Smoke Ghost: (view spoiler)[Pretty good. Though I'm not sure what happened to the ghost at the end. Did it go away? Did it possess him after it was in Mrs. Millick? I thought it was interesting that there was a smudge on her forehead like the possessed man in The Book also. (hide spoiler)]

White Rabbits:(view spoiler)[ Very fun! Not much, if anything was explained though. Are these people vampires?! If so, I guess Stephanie Meyer wasn't the first to make them sparkle. And why oh why do they have hundreds of white rabbits that eat dead flesh? I sort of thought the people/vampires/lepers were going to turn the narrator into a rabbit and that's where they came from but I guess not. (hide spoiler)]

[Alison]

I am 25% into the book also! :) Here are my favorite stories so far:

The Screaming Skull
Casting the Ruins
The Spider
The Hell Screen
The Book
Genius Loci

Here are my thoughts on:

Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass: (view spoiler)[ What in the heck is going on in this story?? I agree, Marleen, that it felt like the main character was dreaming...or, perhaps, once he arrived at the Sanatorium he was put under the same type of "spell" or condition as the others (like his father) who stayed there (including the sleepiness all the time)? Was the main character visiting his father who was dead...or was the main character dead himself and thus experiencing sleepiness like his father? Leaving the window open and letting all the cold air in let me think of morgue conditions where the room is kept cold...
And the creepy train: The sticky seats and people sitting on the straw on the floor instead of the seats! I am thinking the main character became a conductor on the train in the end...why? This story was very strange but interesting to read! (hide spoiler)]

Far Below: (view spoiler)[ A bit of my claustrophobia kicked in while reading this story! Very creepy to be down there all the time monitoring "The Things" and never being up in the sunlight and regular world! I really like the story and the fact that that poor man who has been down there so long is turning into one of "Them"! A lot of Lovecraft influences...the author even mentions a Lovecraft "Old God" by name ("...the charnel horrors of this mad Nyarlathotep-world..." Yes, I had to look that up :) and I think the description of the "Things" would fit how a Lovecraft monster would look ;)
@SarahKat..I wonder too how long it took for Lovecraft to become popular and have influence over other authors! (hide spoiler)]

Smoke Ghost (view spoiler)[ I enjoyed this one and think the main character was clairvoyant and suppressed it in his adult life. What a horrible mother to try to make a child see and communicate with the dead...UGH! I am not sure what happened to the ghost in the end but assume that the main character satisfied whatever the ghost wanted out of him for the time being but that the ghost will continue to haunt him and show up in the future (hide spoiler)]

White Rabbits: (view spoiler)[ All I can say is if it is suggested by a neighbor that is dumping bones on a balcony that you bring spoiled meat over to the neighbors apartment, run away and don't go over to that creepy apartment!! :)
@SarahKat: I liked the sparkly people and loved your reference to Stephanie Meyer...I could just see Edward sitting in the field in the sun sparkling away...Ha!! (hide spoiler)]

[SarahKat, Buddy Reads]

Mimic: (view spoiler)[ When I saw this title I wondered if it was the same as the movie by the same name. Apparently it is! Although, I've never seen the movie so the plot was still a surprise. I liked it! I thought the level of detail for how this creature is mimicking humans was really cool, especially the whole, stopping and not speaking to women because women would notice more than men. And possible female jealousy. Really interesting. And it touches on the idea of humans not looking closely at things. Their minds just sort of "fill in" what they think is supposed to be there. (hide spoiler)]

The Crowd: (view spoiler)[Another familiar name, though I've only read Farenheit 451 and Homecoming by Bradbury before. I really liked this one as well. Very unsettling. So the same people who are always in the crowd are all ghosts? At the end he says he'll be joining them. The imagery of the first crash was amazing and Bradbury's writing for the rest of it is superb also. I was actually reading this aloud to my daughter (she's tiny she has no clue what I'm saying but she likes to hear me talk), and it flowed really really well. Which is more than I can say for some of these other stories. (hide spoiler)]

[Marleen]

Today’s stories:

Smoke Ghost: (view spoiler)[We have now reached stories that were punished in the forties, and I feel that there is clearly a change in atmosphere. This story and the next one are suddenly set in wartime cities and things are depressing and black and kind of dirty.
I liked this story, especially the part on the elevated railway where every night the creature was a little closer... Not sure what happened in the end, was the creature really satisfied with being worshipped for a bit? And what was the connection to the childhood of the main character? A lot of these stories leave us with so many questions... (hide spoiler)]

White Rabbits: (view spoiler)[This reminded me a bit of The Spider, with a main character being curious about the strange person across the street. The rabbits were creeeepy, and reminded me of a famous Monty Python scene. I didn’t like this story much, maybe it was too short.
SarahKat, your sparkly vampire comment gave me a giggle :) (hide spoiler)]

[Marleen]

The two for today:

Mimic: (view spoiler)[What a cool concept! I loved the description of the man-shaped insect. I found it especially interesting that in the explanation of mimics all the examples were creatures that mimicked others to avoid being detected by more dangerous creatures. So in the story here, man is the dangerous creature to avoid, and our Weird creature of the day is not the one to be afraid of... (hide spoiler)]

The Crowd: (view spoiler)[I don’t like crowds one bit, and this story was almost claustrophobic to read. It’s a known fact that accidents always attract crowds fast, very inventive to write a story based on that. Not sure what the people in the crowd were, ghosts or otherwise, but I don’t mind the not knowing.
I absolutely loved the writing style, so many great sentences! I loved the writing so much that I’d like to read more Ray Bradbury, so I just put Fahrenheit 451 on my TBR. (hide spoiler)]

[SarahKat, Buddy Reads]

Marleen about White Rabbits: (view spoiler)[I had the exact same thoughts too! It reminded me of The Spider at first, and then when the rabbits started feasting on putrid flesh I just kept thinking "It's got big teeth like this!" Haha (hide spoiler)]

and Mimic: (view spoiler)[I didn't even think about it in those terms; that the creature is weird and grotesque to us but it's just trying to survive and avoid us. Although it did appear to have killed some people. People who took notice of it? (hide spoiler)]

Fahrenheit 451 is a great book. It was required summer reading in high school. I brought it with me to one of those big, 3-day-long concerts and I just stayed in my tent for one whole day and read it in one sitting. I haven't read it since then though. I should probably re-read.

Today's stories...

The Long Sheet: (view spoiler)[This was intriguing as some commentary on society. I loved the descriptions of how all the rooms were handling it, and nothing worked for the individuals. Nothing! I honestly thought that last room with the good attitude would escape but no. I always tell my son he's more likely to have a good day if he has a good attitude. Guess I won't show him this story. Basically "congrats on your outlook on life. You're stuck down there forever but at least you're an optimist!"
Reading this type of thing from long ago both depresses me and makes me feel a bit better. Like, it makes me feel better because I think, see, things aren't really any worse than they always were. We just have social media and stuff that makes it front and center. But it also depresses me because after almost a century we are still just dealing with the same sh**!!
I dunno, maybe I've seen too many Facebook posts about how capitalism is killing the country. (hide spoiler)]

The Aleph: (view spoiler)[Not my favorite. Honestly started falling asleep about halfway through but finished anyway so maybe I missed out on some amazing things, but it sounds like there was a thing in the basement that showed the guy a whole lot of universes. *shrug* (hide spoiler)]

[Marleen]

I read three today.

The Long Sheet: (view spoiler)[I understand why the introduction compared it to In the Penal Colony, unnamed guards with a strange ‘device’ punishing their prisoners. I liked the concept of the room with the wet sheet and really enjoyed the descriptions of the different ways people in the different rooms dealt with it. And poor poor people in Room 1, 7 years of sheet-wringing, and then the promised freedom was an illusion...
I also agree with your views on the story SarahKat, it’s both an interesting and a depressing commentary on society. (hide spoiler)]

The Aleph: (view spoiler)[I was so very very bored. Maybe it would have been a better story if the weird element had been introduced a lot sooner? As it was now, I lost focus every other sentence and was bored out of my mind before anything remotely interesting happened. Not for me.
And glad to read I wasn’t the only one falling asleep during this one :) (hide spoiler)]

The Child in the Bush of Ghosts: (view spoiler)[My boredom with the previous one is why I decided to read an extra one to hopefully end the day’s reading on a better note. Not sure how I feel about this one. I liked the descriptions of the bush/jungle. I thought it was interesting that our main character decided to go back and explore by himself, without any fear. Was he dead at the end, or had he been dead? Not sure what happened. Also I was a bit uncomfortable reading the Wassai bit (was that some kind of paradise place?) because our main character was a twelve year old. (hide spoiler)]

[SarahKat, Buddy Reads]

I just read one today, so we're on the same page again Marleen!

The Child in the Bush of Ghosts: (view spoiler)[I liked this one, especially the uncertainty of how it ended. I'm thinking he died at some point during the whole journey, because he says something about talking to his family being a dream at the end. But who knows. Funnily, though, my son and I had just watched Coco, so all the skeletons and the fact that a young boy was all caught up in this afterlife-world was just making me think of that. (hide spoiler)]

[Alison]

I have been reading but have to catch up on my posting...I am at the same point as both of you ;)

My thoughts on:
The Mimic: (view spoiler)[ I, too, thought this was a cool concept!
@ Marleen..I also hadn't thought of the creature in those terms (avoiding being detected) so I suppose the mimicking skill was a survival instinct! "What is in plain view is oft best hidden..." (hide spoiler)]

The Crowd: (view spoiler)[ Creepy!! Especially drawing so close and crowding an accident victim (sort of like rubberneckers in cars ;) I had the feeling that the people in the crowd were dead and possibly victims of accidents themselves. I really liked Ray Bradbury's writing and have to admit...this is the first thing I have read of his! My husband really liked Fahrenheit 451 so I think I need to add it to my ever growing TBR :) (hide spoiler)]

The Long Sheet: (view spoiler)[ I, too, felt it was an interesting and depressing view on society! I really liked this story...the people in each of the rooms had their own personalities and how they attacked the problem of the Long Sheet was due to their outlook on life! "Freedom lies in the attitude of the spirit"...how depressing the people of Room One did not get rewarded with actual Freedom! (hide spoiler)]

The Aleph: (view spoiler)[ I had a very hard time concentrating with this one...my thoughts would wander and I would have to pull myself back into the story! In my mind, all I could think of was "such big words over nothing"! (hide spoiler)]

The Child in the Bush of Ghosts (view spoiler)[ I did like the description of the Bush and the fact that the child takes the hand of the skeleton with no fear to explore but I think he got lead to a place he wasn't expecting. I can see a 12 year old boy wanting to find the origin of a great river that runs by his village but I agree, Marleen, the Wassai place and experience made me a little uncomfortable because he was so young! Were the skeletons that sat up for him his Ancestors? Maybe he was dead for a while...or perhaps just sleeping really deeply and dreaming? (hide spoiler)]

[Alison]

It seems to me that we are getting into more "modern" stories now...the writing seems that way to me! :)

My Thoughts on:
The Summer House: (view spoiler)[ Shirley Jackson!! I just finished reading "We Have Always Lived in the Castle" so I was happy to compare this story to that book! I really like her writing...it seems to revolve around houses/dwellings/communities and there doesn't seem to be any blatant horror but the horror is alluded to :) I really enjoyed this story and wonder what the couple was waiting for in the end...I think leaving it unknown makes this story very compelling! (hide spoiler)]

The Man Who Sold Rope to the Gnoles (view spoiler)[ Again, we have Gnoles who live in the woods and watch the coming of their visitor through holes in the trees! I found this story to be on the lighter side with humor, in my opinion, mixed in! Although Poor Mortenson got roasted and sauced in the end... (hide spoiler)]

The Hungry House (view spoiler)[ By the author of Psycho! I definitely found this story to be creepy but enjoyed it! Luckily I read it this morning...this would not be something I would want to read before bed (I am a chicken and tend to dream about horror stories if I read them before bed! :) The description of the way the couple saw faces/presences behind them while looking in the mirror was done really well. I felt the story was a bit too wrapped up, however, and wish that the "ghost" would have been kept a bit more mysterious... (hide spoiler)]

[Marleen]

I agree Alison, the writing is getting a bit more modern these last few stories.

The Summer People: (view spoiler)[I enjoyed this story, but I didn’t really think it was very Weird. My understanding was that the townsfolk didn’t want these ‘summer people’ to stay past their welcome and made life impossible for them. Maybe I missed something Weird? I did really enjoy the writing and the atmosphere. (hide spoiler)]

The Man Who Sold Rope to the Gnoles: (view spoiler)[How funny that we get another gnole story after the earlier story about Nuth. Except this time we actually meet them! There was a little throwaway sentence in the middle of the rope selling that made me laugh: ‘In the cellars from time to time someone would scream.’ and the salesman just ignores it and keeps on trying to sell his ropes to this strange tentacled creature, like it’s all normal everyday business. (hide spoiler)]

[SarahKat, Buddy Reads]

The Summer People: (view spoiler)[ I've also read We Have Always Lived in the Castle" by Shirley Jackson. It was a while ago but I didn't really like it. It seems like a whole lot of build-up for nothing. Though it was quite similar to this story in many ways, I liked this story better, probably because I didn't feel like I invested a bunch of time into it for an unsatisfying end. Like Marleen, I was wondering what exactly was Weird about it. I think it was just the atmosphere. One of those creepy little towns where everyone is just a little off, and then of course they mess with their phones and car so they're stuck there. Creeeeepy (hide spoiler)]

The Man Who Sold Rope to the Gnoles: (view spoiler)[ This was fun but I have nothing to add. I want a picture of a gnole... (hide spoiler)]

[Marleen]

SarahKat, because of your comment I did a little google to see if anyone has tried to draw a gnole based on the description in this second story, and lo and behold:
http://yog-blogsoth.blogspot.com/2016...
(Edited to change to url of original artist of the picture)

[SarahKat, Buddy Reads]

Marleen wrote: "SarahKat, because of your comment I did a little google to see if anyone has tried to draw a gnole based on the description in this second story, and lo and behold:
http://yog-blogsoth.blogspot.com..."

This makes me so happy! Did you look through that guy's blog? He has a ton of creatures from "Weird" stories! He has The Willows and Yog Sothoth. AND I finally found what I'm reading for "X" in the ABC Challenge because of this site: The Xipéhuz. Thanks Marleen!

[SarahKat, Buddy Reads]

The Hungry House: (view spoiler)[Alison, I had the same thoughts you did! I read it at work this morning. I am so glad I wasn't reading it by myself at home at night. I really enjoyed the story. I think the building horror was great. I agree with you that the story was a little too nicely wrapped up. Hacker telling the whole grim story to them was interesting and all but just too obvious. But then, back in the day, there probably weren't 500 spooky ghost stories on television and they didn't really need intriguing gimmicks to explain the presence of a ghost. Ghosts could just be ghosts.

Have you seen the movie Mirrors? That freaked me out when I saw it years ago and I still can't stand having a mirror in my room. My husband can't either. The house we moved into had one on the wall in his room and he took it down and covered it.

The one thing that bothered me was how the author treated the wife. "Women saw an idealization" in the mirror? If anything, I feel like we see ourselves as much worse than we are in the mirror, whereas men are more confident. (hide spoiler)]

The Complete Gentleman: (view spoiler)[Whaaaaat did I just read? This was like something my 8-year-old son would have come up with. I mean I like my son's writing, and I liked this story... I think? But I mean, it was just so completely random. "So this guy starts walking and this lady follows him because he's cute but then he hires out all his body parts and is just a skull so the lady wants to leave but the skull puts a shell around her neck so she has to stay and then there's this lizard who comes and saves the lady and feeds her leaves so she can talk again. The End." (hide spoiler)]

[Alison]

Marleen wrote: "SarahKat, because of your comment I did a little google to see if anyone has tried to draw a gnole based on the description in this second story, and lo and behold:
http://yog-blogsoth.blogspot.com..."

Marleen...I loved this! Thank You for sharing! :D

[Marleen]

Glad you both enjoyed the link! SarahKat, I went back and looked through some of the other illustrations and I did find Yog Sothoth, as well as illustrations of both Wilbur and his twin brother from The Dunwich Horror. All very creepy and closely matching the descriptions. Talented artist!

Today I read:

The Hungry House: (view spoiler)[Did we have a proper haunted house story already so far? I don’t think we did. I liked it, but also agree Alison that the cause could have been kept more mysterious. But a proper creepy story! Haven’t we all sometimes seen something in the mirror behind us in the corner of our eye or felt a presence in the room when nobody was there...
I’m glad you two read this one in the morning. I’ve unfortunately just read it now, close to midnight and I’m already fearing standing in front of the mirror in my bathroom in a bit! Plus I have a big standing mirror in my bedroom... (hide spoiler)]

The Complete Man: (view spoiler)[The structure of the story felt a bit like a fairytale. The writing was very strange, but maybe that was a translation issue? It didn’t really work for me, this one.
But I had a laugh at your 8-year-old’s version of it SarahKat :) (hide spoiler)]

[Alison]

My thoughts on:

The Complete Man: (view spoiler)[ Nope, this one just didn't do it for me either! I, too, loved your 8 year olds version of it SarahKat :D I am not sure it was a translation issue with the story...the author's biography said that he was a largely self-taught writer. He was praised for books based on Yoruba folktales so maybe that is why it seemed like a fairytale, Maureen! I did like the visual of the skull rolling/jumping long distances.... I guess without a body, a skull can be more mobile ;) (hide spoiler)]

It's a Good Life (view spoiler)[ I really like this one and apparently it was the basis for one of the most popular stories on "The Twilight Zone" I found a YouTube video of the episode:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBqTb...
Anthony must be pleased all the time...don't make him mad!! Does he have God-like or Demon-like powers? Can you imagine living like all the people around Anthony had too...smoothing everything over..."It's Just Fine!!" "Things are So Good"!! (hide spoiler)]

Mister Taylor: (view spoiler)[ This one was very weird with the brisk trade of desiccated heads...."a home without its corresponding head was seen as a failed home.." Interesting that supply could not keep up with demand and Mr. Taylor became a product of his company (hide spoiler)]

Axolotyl (view spoiler)[ There is actually a salamander called an Axolotyl...otherwise known as "The Mexican Walking Fish." Here is an Image/article:
https://www.scientificamerican.com/ar...
The author really described it in detail, which I really liked in this story...it felt like with the description, you were getting pulled into the salamander like he was! What happened in the end...did he morph his mind into the salamander and his human body continued to exist? His human body's visits to the zoo lessened so somehow he became uninterested in the Axolotl at the end.
(hide spoiler)]

[Marleen]

Today’s selection:

It’s a Good Life: (view spoiler)[This one was great! I loved the tense fake-happy atmosphere. I really liked that we got POVs from both the people of the town as well as Anthony himself.
In the introduction it was mentioned that this story was also used in an episode of the cartoon Johnny Bravo, and I totally remember seeing that episode! Johnny kept being transported into a cornfield when he did something a little boy didn’t like.
What is the deal with cornfields by the way, why are they so creepy....? And creepy little kids are always extra creepy too, like The Omen, or in The Shining. I wonder if this was one of the first creepy little kids.
Thanks for the Twilight link Alison! I might watch it tomorrow, when it’s daylight again, haha. (hide spoiler)]

Mister Taylor: (view spoiler)[I didn’t like this one as much but I liked the ending of the head-provider sending his own head last. (hide spoiler)]

[SarahKat, Buddy Reads]

It's a Good Life: (view spoiler)[I liked this one a lot. I actually would have liked if it was longer to get more detail on stuff. Like why? Why does Anthony hate records for one thing? Kids being creepy is one of my fears. Ugh. I would not do well in this town either. I can't keep my mouth shut.
Thanks for sharing the video Alison! The "thing" Anthony turns Dan into at the end wasn't as disturbing as I pictured in the book haha. (hide spoiler)]

Mister Taylor: (view spoiler)[ This was okay. Sort of a satire on capitalism I think. And yes, it was fitting that Mr. Taylor ended up a product of his company as you said Alison! (hide spoiler)]

Axolotl: (view spoiler)[ I love axolotls! Though I haven't seen one in real life. I'd like to. The story wasn't really that weird until the end but I enjoyed it. Alison, yes I think at the end, through his obsessive fixation on the axolotl, his consciousness was transferred to it. Seems like the man is still living out in the world, but I guess without much going on in his head. (hide spoiler)]

[Marleen]

For your amusement and my own childhood nostalgia I found the Johnny Bravo episode that was based on It’s a Good Life: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6q...

[SarahKat, Buddy Reads]

This has been moved to the November Buddy Reads folder :)

Thanks Marleen! I watched that last night. I used to watch Johnny Bravo with my dad. I don't remember if we ever saw that episode though.

[Marleen]

I watched the Twilight Zone video you posted Alison, but I must say that my own images while reading the story were quite a bit scarier haha. Thanks for posting the link!

I read three stories today:

Axolotl: (view spoiler)[I liked this one, especially the subtle shift at the end where the man’s consciousness seemed to switch places with the axolotl’s. I can understand why someone would write a Weird story about axolotls, they look so strange! (hide spoiler)]

A Woman Seldom Found: (view spoiler)[I liked the descriptions of Rome (such a beautiful city that I’ve been lucky enough to visit a few times), but other than that this didn’t do much for me. (hide spoiler)]

The Howling Man: (view spoiler)[Interesting story, where both the main character and myself seemed to go back and forth in deciding what to believe. Had to look up Braunau am Inn, but as expected: it’s the birthplace of Hitler... (hide spoiler)]

[Alison]

Marleen wrote: "For your amusement and my own childhood nostalgia I found the Johnny Bravo episode that was based on It’s a Good Life: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6q..."

I forgot about Johnny Bravo until I watched this...Thanks for Sharing, Marleen! I don't think I have seen this episode...:D

[SarahKat, Buddy Reads]

A Woman Seldom Found: (view spoiler)[I agree with you Marleen, this didn't really interest me. As with some of these other stories, the only weird thing was at the very end. I understand what the author is going for with this kind of thing, but without a reaction or an explanation to just some random weirdness that has had nothing to do with anything else for the whole story, it doesn't work for me. (hide spoiler)]

The Howling Man: (view spoiler)[I liked this one! I also was going back and forth on who to believe. At first I was thinking werewolf, especially because of the name of the place: St. Wulfan. But no I was surprised the monks claimed it's the actual Devil. I was curious when this took place when they got to explaining the 5 years of peace but there's a war coming. I figured between WWI and WWII. Turned out to be right on that one. I liked the postcard at the end. I wonder if he's still in there... (hide spoiler)]

[Alison]

My thoughts on:

A Woman Seldom Found: (view spoiler)[ Rome is on my bucket list to visit and I loved the description of Rome in the story but...the story was not interesting to me (hide spoiler)]

The Howling Man: (view spoiler)[ Again...another Twilight episode! I have a feeling that we will see more of these in this anthology!! I really enjoyed this story and its premise...yes, the Devil was released and wreaked havoc on the world (in the form of Hitler) until he was returned to the monastery! How haunted by that will that man be for the rest of his life?! (hide spoiler)]

Same Time, Same Place: (view spoiler)[ Yes, this one was weird...like the synopsis says about the author's work: "a glimpse of the hidden in the contemporary world". I found it interesting that he encountered a "bus to never-never land" after he left his parents with a ticket in his hand...when he saw it, he thought he was going to the Circus. Did he actually go to the circus and get caught up in something surreal? (hide spoiler)]

The Colomber: (view spoiler)[ This, to me, was a haunting story and so sad in the end...I didn't find that much about it weird, just sad for the Columber and the Old Man! (hide spoiler)]

[Alison]

My thoughts on:

The Other Side of the Mountain: (view spoiler)[ I only read this one today because of its length..it could have been a bit shorter for me :) It is a tale of the struggle to survive and I kept wanting the 2 men to make it to the Other Side of the Mountain, which I thought was going to be their salvation but turns out it isn't :0 The imagery of life at sea and being stuck on a ship that was becalmed was very savage...I can't imagine living through anything like this! While I was reading it, I thought of sailors in the 1700's/early 1800's that were exploring unknown territories and what life must have been like for them. The images of the storm/whirlpool at sea and the ship being caught in it were very vivid.
Then you get to the island...the struggle for survival and the strange and weird plants/statues/thumping underground...nature is never what it appears to be! I suppose, in the end, the 2 men became part of the rock/statues that they had found when first arriving on the island...what a horrible ending for them after all they went through! (hide spoiler)]

[SarahKat, Buddy Reads]

Same Time, Same Place: (view spoiler)[ I liked the build-up to this one, but I can't decide if I liked the end. What was the woman exactly? Just a malformed person? And yeah, I had the same question Alison, did he actually get the circus or was he somewhere weirder? (hide spoiler)]

The Colomber: (view spoiler)[ I agree it was just sad really. The man was cursed but really it was just his own fear that ended up cursing him. If he'd just met it head-on to begin with he would have had that pearl from the beginning! (hide spoiler)]

[Marleen]

Same Time, Same Place: (view spoiler)[I started out not liking this one much, but I enjoyed the description of the wedding party. I’d like to think that they didn’t mean him any harm and his big-headed lady actually really just wanted to marry him.
Alison, good call about the ‘circus’ part. I hadn’t made that connection, despite the bearded lady. They sounded more like strange animals in the description, but maybe they were circus people indeed. They were her ‘colleagues’ after all. (hide spoiler)]

The Colomber: (view spoiler)[Strange ending, I didn’t expect anything like that. What a wasted life, always running away and worrying. Poor guy. (hide spoiler)]

[Alison]

My thoughts on:

The Salamander: (view spoiler)[ Poor Woman...the man forced himself upon her repeatedly and then their encounters become consensual (he promises her "You Alone" which is the same thing he says to his wife...dirtbag) then the village wants to burn her in a pyre! I am assuming this is because of the encounters with the man? Her mother was also burned in a pyre. Then she morphs into a salamander, of all things! I am assuming this is because she seemed to be drawn the water and the frogs in the beginning of the story? Gross description of her poor little hand being broken and then torn off...then she sinks into the mud! Definitely weird but I feel for her! (hide spoiler)]

The Ghoul Bird (view spoiler)[ Definitely a Gothic feel to this one and I really liked it! Who wouldn't want to sleep in an attic room and have a door that goes to the top of a crenellated tower...I loved the description of what you could see from the tower! And the twist at the end...the Ghoul Bird ended up being Good! (hide spoiler)]

The Sea Was As Wet As It Could Be: (view spoiler)[ Somewhat Whimsical with a bit of horror added in!! I really, really like this one!! What started out as a beach picnic turned into something darker!
Was Carl a Vampire? He seemed to be to me..."Carl had died or been killed long ago..possibly he was born dead..."
These are all people who are down on themselves...and two strangers join their party! The 2 strangers resemble "The Walrus and The Carpenter" by Lewis Carroll...so I had to look up the poem:
https://poets.org/poem/walrus-and-car...
After reading this poem, I am thinking that the persons in the beach party are like the oysters in the poem! :) (hide spoiler)]

[SarahKat, Buddy Reads]

I just got this long one done last night and didn't have time to post. I'm hoping to get 3 read today.

The Other Side of the Mountain: (view spoiler)[I actually really liked this one. I was honestly a bit hesitant when I saw how long it was, and it would have been nice if it was shorter, but I never felt like I was slogging or bored. I love that it starts out fairly realistic, but very disturbing anyway. The ship being becalmed and the sailors killing and eating each other was quite graphic. It's not really until they get to the island that things get super weird. And it's not even a subtle weird. I thought the descriptions of both the ship and the island were great. So, at the end, is the island a giant creature of some kind? The crater they get to at the end is like a giant eyeball right? And there's the whole heartbeat/thumping in the "ground." I also thought with the trees bending over they could be hairs. Not sure what that means for the statue situation though. What a depressing end. They lived through all of that just to end up in stone. That last line was chilling! (hide spoiler)]

[Alison]

@SarahKat in response to your thoughts on The Other Side of the Mountain:
(view spoiler)[ Wow, I never even thought of the island being a giant creature! That opens up a whole new line of thought for me on this story! Yes, that was a giant eyeball in the crater, the thumping could be a heart beat and the trees bending over could be hairs! But I also don't know what the statues were or why the men were turned into statues/rocks...I guess that is the weird aspect of the story :) (hide spoiler)]

My thoughts on Don't Look Now: (view spoiler)[ This story is a novella but I enjoyed it so much didn't even notice its length while I was reading it! OK...this one involved psychics/telepathy and that theme always creeps me out (I think I had said in an earlier comment that movies like The Omen make me shudder :) In the end, I really felt for Laura (the wife) because she is just now getting over the death of her child and now her husband is murdered...that would really do me in! The murderous dwarf in the end (not a little girl) was a nice twist and I liked the creepy aspect of the twin sisters...especially the blind one. I also liked the descriptions of Venice and the food/wine they eat/drink...spaghetti is one of my favorites! (hide spoiler)]

Looking at the page number (450) of the next story, we are coming up on being halfway through the book! I have so enjoyed comparing notes on these stories with you, Marleen and SarahKat, and look forward to the sharing the rest of the book with you! Thank you for sharing The Weird with me! :)

[SarahKat, Buddy Reads]

Got the next 3 read this morning!

The Salamander: (view spoiler)[This was just depressing! Alison, yes I think because of her encounters with the man the town wanted to burn her. I think there's a fairly common idea (not sure if it's based in fact or if it's just a fiction trope) that women were accused of witchcraft if they "lured" a married man to bed with them. God forbid we put any blame on the man doing the cheating right?! The most obvious assumption to make is not that the dude is an unfaithful jerk, but that the woman has cast some sort of spell on him. Disgusting. And the little hand at the end! It was both gross and sad.
I wasn't sure what the point of her becoming a salamander (as opposed to any other small creature) was, so I did some digging (meaning, one google search).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salaman....
This link states "Of all the traits ascribed to salamanders, the ones relating to fire have stood out most prominently... ...According to some writers, the milky substance that a salamander exudes when frightened and which makes its skin moist gave rise to the idea that the salamander could withstand any heat and even put out fires." So.. it makes sense logistically that she'd turn into a fire-resistant creature. They are apparently also pretty common in witchcraft for symbolic purposes or ingredients.
Most of what was going through my head during this though was "She turned me into a newt!" from Monty Python. That's the second reference to that movie from this book. (hide spoiler)]

The Ghoul Bird: (view spoiler)[This was okay for me. I liked the descriptions but I felt a bit bored until the end, which I really liked! The ghoul bird is trying to save people not usher them to their deaths! (hide spoiler)]

The Sea Was as Wet as It Could Be: (view spoiler)[Loved this one! I love that the author took a somewhat silly poem and made it into a horror story. I also like that Phil was aware of the poem and sort of knew what was going to happen.
I don't think Carl was a vampire; I think that sentence was just a metaphor for his affect. Like he had been abused or something as a kid and grew up "empty." I actually thought that would come back into play at the end since the Walrus and the Carpenter ate everything but the "shell" of the people. I was think they might be the vampires. Since the people were all still just sitting there dead, presumably without a gaping hole where their insides were consumed. Did they eat the blood? Or maybe the soul? (hide spoiler)]

Alison, yes! I'm so glad you and Marleen joined me for this. I was going to read it anyway but I was just thinking the other day that I definitely wouldn't be having as much fun without others' thoughts on all these stories.

[Marleen]

No story thoughts here today (I’m halfway through ‘The Other Side of the Mountain’, will finish tomorrow), but just wanted to come on here and wholeheartedly agree that it is so much fun to buddy read these stories like this with you two :)

[Alison]

@SarahKat...so interesting to know that fact about the Salamander :)

My thoughts on:
The Hospice: (view spoiler)[ A man named Maybury, lost and almost out of gas, arrives at the Hospice, where he is shut up in the house with weird people and a bunch of good food! Kind of reminds me of the song "Hotel California"!

But what a creepy night ahead! All the people who were at the Hospice were weird! I would have thought Maybury would want to get the heck out of there after his plate got thrown to the ground by his server who had a fit when Maybury didn't want to finish his turkey!! Who was Bannard? I got the impression that he was somewhat vampire-like since he got up in the middle of the night, couldn't seem to resist the sight of the wound on Maybury's leg, seemed to me to cause that horrifying scream (someone was murdered?) and when he came back, his appearance had changed.

What was it that attacked/bit Maybury on his leg? He thought it was a cat but it certainly seemed more than a cat! I wonder if that led to what he experienced in the Hospice (maybe the venom in the bite affected his mind?)

I didn't like the ending at all...Maybury, in a rather gruesome way, was allowed to leave in the back of the hearse with a coffin! I thought he was going to get stuck there with the rest of the guests so the ending was dissappointing to me... (hide spoiler)]

It Only Comes Out At Night: (view spoiler)[ I loved this story! I have been on I-40 numerous times traveling from Flagstaff to Albuquerque (we lived in Phoenix for years and Grandma lived in Santa Fe :) I have also driven the Needles area where it does get HOT!! So the story was very relatable to me...and what a scary story!! To think he was driving with something other than his wife in the back seat...shudder! I loved the descriptions of the dusty cars splattered with rain, the moths swarming the light, the rest area... (hide spoiler)]

[SarahKat, Buddy Reads]

Had to take a break from this today to get a little farther in some other books. Back at it tomorrow!

[SarahKat, Buddy Reads]

Only one read today. Another long one!

Don't Look Now: (view spoiler)[I agree with you Alison. Again, I was groaning when I looked at how long this story was but it was really interesting all the way through. I didn't think it was as Weird as I expected, but there was definitely some odd aspects! Everything was sort of mysterious and odd from the beginning but it really starts getting strange when he sees Laura on the ferry. Such a twist at the end with the murderer actually being a dwarf woman! And it happens so fast! I had to re-read the last few paragraphs a few times. They should have listened to the twins' warning. They said John was in more danger than Laura by staying in Venice, but after Johnnie gets sick and all the weirdness happened, I guess they sort of forgot about that whole part of the warning. I also think it's interesting that he was seeing the future with Laura on the ferry, but the only reason he was still in Venice to get murdered was because of that. If he hadn't seen it, it wouldn't have happened. 🤯 (hide spoiler)]

[Marleen]

It took me a while to get through the next one, I wasn’t in the right frame of mind for a longer story I think. But made it through :)

The Other Side of the Mountain: (view spoiler)[I feel like this was almost two separate stories. The adventures at sea, with no Weird element but lots of thrills and horrific sights; and the almost hallucinatory adventures in the other world (?) they ended up in. I liked the relationship between the main character and Toine, and I also enjoyed the descriptive writing that made it easy to visualize all the strange things they encountered. The ending did surprise me a bit; same as Alison I was expecting they would find some kind of salvation on the other side of the mountain. It did take me long to get through this one though.
SarahKat, I hadn’t thought about the whole island being a creature but makes perfect sense with the eyeball and the lips under water and the heartbeat. (hide spoiler)]

The Salamander: (view spoiler)[This one was too strange for me. So a woman is burnt because the village thinks she is a witch and then she turns into a salamander?!?!?! I don’t really get this one. I did like reading both your thoughts about it though. (hide spoiler)]

The Ghoul-bird: (view spoiler)[This one felt almost old-fashioned, like it could have been in the book quite a few stories back, a few decades earlier. I enjoyed it though! I especially liked the twist in the end. (hide spoiler)]

[Alison]

OK...I have to say that I am "skipping" the next two stories....I started them and will give my thoughts on why I am "skipping" below:

The Psychologist Who Wouldn't Do Awful Things To Rats: (view spoiler)[ I started this one and then soon realized that it was going down the experimentation on lab animals route...Nope, Nope!! I have a really hard time with books/movies where animals are harmed/experimented on so I am skipping this one! (hide spoiler)]

The Beak Doctor: (view spoiler)[ I tried, I really did! I started this this morning, I put it down and picked it up at lunch, then put it down and then just tried again! I just don't get it!! It is very, very disjointed. I understand the writing...the doctor, who is wearing some kind of mask, is called out to attend to a woman who appears to have been raped. His arrival, his departure and making his way back to the "roundhouse" is all done in the Fog that has set in the city so I understand the way the author made the writing disjointed. Things and people are hard to see in a thick fog. However, it was, for me, extremely hard to follow and after 3 tries, I gave up! I am interested to hear both of your thoughts on this one! (hide spoiler)]

[SarahKat, Buddy Reads]

The Hospice: (view spoiler)[ I liked this one, but I was expecting some kind of explanation for what exactly that place was. And it seemed odd that Maybury even escaped. It seemed like a nursing home type of thing at first, with all the staff talking to him like a child, and the one staff not leaving him alone in a room. However, after a while it got weirder than just a nursing home.
Alison, I didn't even think of Bannard possibly being a vampire. Could be! I have no idea what animal actually scratched him, but I thought perhaps the venom or whatever from it might have induced some weird hallucinations or something. (hide spoiler)]

It Only Comes Out at Night: (view spoiler)[ This was really good and disturbing. I haven't had the "pleasure" of driving on I-40 much, but I have driven on long stretches of interstate, where the nearest form of civilization is 2+ hours away (basically the entire state of Wyoming). Stopping at rest stops at night always freaks me out.
Again, what was going on wasn't really explained, but I feel like the moths are a big thing. It seemed to me that the rain spots on the cars might not have been rain spots at all, but spots where dead moths had fallen. The cars covered in the "moth dust" from their wings rather than just regular dirt. What kind of horrifying creature was killing everyone though?! (hide spoiler)]

[Marleen]

I’m a little behind, but I’ll catch up!

The Sea Was as Wet as It Could Be: (view spoiler)[I enjoyed this one! I’ve never read Lewis Carroll but I did recently finally see the Disney movie Alice in Wonderland which included the story of the Walrus and the Carpenter and those poor oysters. This was a fun twist/homage to that story. SarahKat, yes I liked it too that our main character was aware of the resemblance of the situation to the poem. (hide spoiler)]

Don’t Look Now: (view spoiler)[Oh this was a good one! It had me on the edge of my seat and I had no idea how it would end. Very sinister. Loved the characters too. I agree Alison that it didn’t seem that long at all, it flew by. Has any of you read Rebecca? I think I’ll put it on my TBR after this, because I really enjoyed the story and the writing.
Oo SarahKat, good call on the 🤯 fact that he stayed in Venice because he saw Laura on the boat which would only happen because he stayed in Venice... (hide spoiler)]

[SarahKat, Buddy Reads]

Marleen,
The Disney Alice in Wonderland is actually quite disturbing.
I haven't read Rebecca but I was thinking of adding it to my TBR as well! I see it all the time and just haven't looked into it.

Today I just read one.
The Psychologist Who Wouldn't Do Awful Things to Rats: (view spoiler)[I see why you skipped this one Alison. I have a hard time with stuff like this too but for some reason I can read it better than I can watch it. I didn't really like this one anyway so you weren't missing much. Way too many horrible descriptions of the experiments. I liked the main character who was disgusted by all of that and wanted to work with living creatures without killing or torturing them. The end was just too weird for me. He sees a Rat King and then he becomes just as heartless as everyone else, if not moreso. Not sure what was going on. Meh (hide spoiler)]

I'll try to read the Beak Doctor tonight and/or tomorrow and see if I can get through it!

[Alison]

SarahKat wrote: "Marleen,
The Disney Alice in Wonderland is actually quite disturbing.
I haven't read Rebecca but I was thinking of adding it to my TBR as well! I see it all the time and just haven't looked into ..."

I read Rebecca last year and really liked it! I just added another one of Du Maurier's books Jamaica Inn to my TBR to read next year...another Gothic novel that involves "dark English Moors..." Her writing is always very descriptive! :)

[Alison]

My thoughts on:

My Mother: (view spoiler)[ This was truly a weird story about how Mother and Daughter morph into other things (Lizards??) and their relationship. The Daughter's opening line of wishing her Mother dead set the tone of the story for me! The Mother is kind of smothering and the Daughter is jealous of the Mother...truly not a good relationship in my opinion :) (hide spoiler)]

The Sandkings: (view spoiler)[ Ohhhh, one of my favorite authors!! I haven't read much of George RR Martin's horror works and I really enjoyed this one!! I really Loved this one! Kress is spoiled and full of himself and wants a truly unique creature after all of his other "pets" died...in buying the Sandkings, he got more than he bargained for!!

A little tidbit: We live in Santa Fe and George RR Martin has an influence here in town...from the Jean Cocteau Theatre to Meow Wolf, we get to visit places he has influenced! He has had a fascinating dragon mural painted on the back of the Jean Cocteau Theatre and, in driving up the street where he lives (to visit some friends), he has the greatest Castle for a mailbox! :) (hide spoiler)]

[Marleen]

Today’s stories:

The Hospice: (view spoiler)[I enjoyed the writing and the weirdness but I don’t have a clue what was going here and why it ended so abruptly. I did a bit of googling to see if I could find an explanation and some readers seem to think that Maybury leaving the place in a hearse is a sign that he is actually dead (and may have been all along?). While this doesn’t explain everything that’s going on, I do like that theory. (hide spoiler)]

It Only Comes Out At Night: (view spoiler)[I really liked this one. Great writing, very descriptive and vivid. Such a creepy ending! So was his wife murdered in the backseat, like the people in the other cars seem to have been? ‘Rest Area’ indeed... Eternal rest. Good call on the moths being connected maybe, hadn’t thought of that. And moths ‘only come out at night’...
This type of road is hard to imagine for me as a Dutchie, living in a tiny heavily-populated country :) (hide spoiler)]

[Alison]

My thoughts on:

Window: (view spoiler)[ I really enjoyed this one! Time travel/alternate universe books seem to be a theme for me recently...I am participating in the Buddy Read of 11/22/63 and I just read a short story of time travel! :)
I wonder if the creatures in the Victorian House/Window actually knew that the humans were outside observing them and were using the facade of a normal family living back in a time that seemed better than the present to lure the humans into their window so they could eat them? Or was it an accident that Reeves got so enamored with the family that he jumped through the window and caused the creatures to change and eat him? (hide spoiler)]

The Brood (view spoiler)[ What a dark, dark story! I actually got goosebumps reading this story...vampires or vampire-like creatures get me every time!! (hide spoiler)]

[SarahKat, Buddy Reads]

I'm getting behind! Alison, I told you you didn't need to worry about being behind at the start ;)

Responding to Marleen's thoughts on The Hospice: (view spoiler)[I had the thought too that Maybury may have been dead or died since he leaves in hearse. But it says he's next to the coffin and the driver spoke to him. Still possible I guess as the driver might be in the habit of talking to his deceased passengers. (hide spoiler)]

I read..

The Beak Doctor: (view spoiler)[Actually I sort of skimmed most of it. Alison, I agree with you it was just really hard to get through. I sort of liked the beginning scene but then things just become too confused throughout most of it. I'd skim a page and then focus on the next one, but I didn't get much out of it. (hide spoiler)]

My Mother: (view spoiler)[I forgot I read this one too until I was looking at the titles you've read Alison. Obviously not that memorable for me. I do remember the mother morphing into the lizard and that was interesting, but other than that, meh. (hide spoiler)]

Excited for GRR Martin next!