Status Updates From The Weird: A Compendium of ...

The Beak Doctor by Eric Basso DNF
My Mother by Jamaica Kincaid 1/5
Sandkings by George R. R. Martin 5/5
Window by Bob Leman 5/5
The Brood by Ramsey Campbell 3/5
The Autopsy by Michael Shea 4/5
The Belonging Kind by William Gibson and John Shirley 3.5/5
Egnaro by M. John Harrison 2/5

The Colomber by Dino Buzzati 4/5
The Other Side of the Mountain by Michael Bernanos 4/5
The Salamander by Mercè Rodoreda 2.5/5
The Ghoulbird by Claude Seignolle 1/5
The Sea Was Wet As Can Be by Gahan Wilson 4/5
Don't Look Now by Daphne du Maurier 5/5
The Hospice by Robert Aickman 4/5
It Only Comes Out at Night by Dennis Ethison 4/5
The Psychologist Who Wouldn't Do Awful Things To Rats by James Tiptree 3/5

"The Man in the Bottle" - Did absolutely nothing for me. First story I've disliked.

"The Dissection" - Well-written juxtaposition of a body's last, beautiful sensations, and the gruesome work done by doctors on that same body. More of a brief expression of an idea than a Weird tale, though.

"How Nuth Would Have Practised His Art Upon the Gnoles" - A fun little fantasy-inflected crime caper story with terrifying implications. I'd love more stories with this master burglar and the strange world in which he operates. "Nobody ever catches Nuth."

"Casting the Runes" - Effectively cultivates dread as the reality of Dunning's situation becomes more and more clear, but otherwise I found the story to be merely adequate, and the formatting awful. I just earlier today watched the film adaptation, Jacques Tourneur's Night of the Demon, which, in my opinion, did so much more with the concept.

"Sredni Vashtar" - A cute little story about a boy and his ferret-god. Was it the power of imagination? Belief? And how big is this ferret anyway?

"The Willows" - Excellent! So thick with atmosphere I felt choked up at points, and written so well I could see it all, feel it all: the willows, the river, the sand, the wind - I was there! Perfectly concluded with a haunting ending. Favorite story in the collection thus far.