Two Envelopes And A Phone > Recent Status Updates

Two stories left - gonna finish this tonight.

This will mean two whodunits in a row, and then I will likely do two Horror novels in a row - Ramsey Campbell novel, and then A Head Full of Ghosts. I seem to be unable to commit to Kafka's The Castle, or The Mysteries of Udolpho, even though they have been candidates for spooky season. Maybe they are for closer to Halloween...

Most of my spooky season reads have at least fit the vibe I’ve been going for - creepy, to outright scary, the hope - and this has been no exception. This almost read like a full-on Horror novel, for a while there…though now we’ve had a change in circumstance, as of page 156, which means things should be calmer from here on in. I think. I don’t know who the axe-wielding killer is, or the deal on the ‘ghost’.

I don’t think I’ve read anything quite like it. ‘There was a note pinned to my pillow. It was from Satan. A casual sort of message.’ Y’see? There’s a couple of sentences you don’t get in every book, even at Halloween. Meanwhile - it seems that the finale is going to involve some yachting…which makes my switch to The After House as my next read all the stranger, because it takes place on a yacht. Coincidences abound.

I’ve made a change…going to this, instead of a Gladys Mitchell novel. The plot summary seems more in keeping with Halloween lead-up reading - “One ship’s officer thrown overboard. Another was hacked to death with an axe…”! I gotta be there early for that.

I wanted one more loud, bombastic Horror novel for spooky season, and that’s what I’ve got here. There’s some stuff in this that is a little too 1928…but overall, I’m having a blast. I checked; this is the seventh book by Merritt that I have gotten to - how fitting! Also interesting to get to this not too long after The Sorrows of Satan. Different feel, that’s for sure.

Hunh. Well, it seems I've decided to sample EERIE goings-on right when the magazine went into a bit of a decline - money low, different artists, that sort of thing. But it's okay, I'll manage. This is for dipping into, and relaxing between novels. Earlier Volumes may be where I want to go in the future.

My mission to read a book by a woman every second pick, at least until Nov. 1st, has been modified slightly to making sure that however many books by men I read in a row, I read that many or more in a row by women. So, Merritt ahead of this - but then this, and probably, drumroll, The Mysteries of Udolpho! Besides all this - this is the second marsh-centered whodunit by a woman I will be wading into in mere weeks.

My fave Merritt book, so far, is a Horror novel, not one of his Fantasy efforts; that’s Burn, Witch, Burn. So I have high hopes for this is one, as a spooky season pick, even though I don’t know much about it. Cover and title are wild.

I made Dan J. Marlowe step down for the time being, in favour of the fella who will always have an edge in the “what do I need to read next, for real” derby. I did not know this was an Ed and Am Hunter outing!

Okay, it’s a cute little 38-page booklet thingy you get, if you order this…but I don’t know where they get off printing “SF Boxed Set” on the cover; I would guess this is a factor in the one rating at Goodreads being a 2-star rating. Regardless, I pursued this item to have access to the story ‘The Fate of the Poseidonia’, but I also get another story I will of course check out. Have read the author before.

I’m enjoying these stories. Good assortment.

This is a particularly outlandish one, even keeping in mind how bizarre certain aspects were in the first two. I think what is starting to sit funny with me is that all the subplots - all the characters - never seem to have a dull moment. Everything that happens is hyper-tense, jacked-up on extreme events, extreme emotion. If this one gets 3 stars, not 4, it will be because it seems too crazy to be believable.

Easy to race through the pages, like the first two. These books, at times, seem to border on real life…would things like this actually happen? Would they keep happening? Do cops really live like this, personally and professionally…all the maverick, potentially career-ending behaviour, plus strange romances? It does make for compelling reading.

I wasn't sure I wanted to go to this right after the unrelenting bleakness of The Little Stranger - a Golden Age Mystery or something light, might have been better - but The Little Stranger did read like 'Olde Gothique', so I decided to stay modern. I also need something with a less ambiguous ending - a police investigation, and a clear resolution (I hope!).

Just over a hundred pages left…which probably means I won’t get it done tonight. I’m anxious to see if it’s a finale without mercy, or something with a bit of leniency. Horror…yuh never know.