Two Envelopes And A Phone > Recent Status Updates

It has gotten very suspenseful. I can't help some grand trick is being played on me, even though everything seems very obvious, in terms of Who, and Why.

Time for some Science Fiction short stories - been a while (I think). I do need to get back to reading SF novels too, but I keep putting off the next Expanse book, Red Mars just sits on my shelf ignored, and a foursome of really cool-looking older SF novels are being saved for a July reading plan linked to a BookTuber. Anyway, Brunner usually works for me, we’ll see if that applies to short efforts.

It’s a fascinating novel, so different than I was expecting. This is not your typical Golden Age Mystery, or even of the inverted type. There’s a modern sensibility here, like Dirty Harry, or that Insomnia movie with Al Pacino and Robin Williams. I have no idea where the author will take this premise, which is great!

I’m going to read the last few stories in Murder by the Book, and this novel, before I go back to the real-world terrors in The Only Plane in the Sky.

Right, so, I might take a little break from this, just to read a novel and some short stories before bringing this to its conclusion.

I just finished the sections 'The World Trade Center Evacuation', and 'Jumping"; obviously these are some of the most intense parts of the book, which is saying something. I knew about Stanley and Brian, plus the Man in the Red Bandana, and the firefighter who died when hit by a jumper. Some of the other quotes from many evacuees are new to me.

Actual audio, or transcripts, were my focus when I took a deep dive into 9/11 material at YouTube, over several years. So - much of this is familiar, in terms of the really dramatic, or gut-wrenching, stuff. But the scope of this book does go well beyond what I was aware of. It is hard to put down, but I’ll stop with the flight out of Sarasota, and leave AA77 for tomorrow.

Around 2020, I went down the 9/11 rabbit hole, and learned a lot that I had not looked into, over the first twenty years since it happened. When the twentieth “anniversary” came, I was actually ready for a break. But then, over the past year or so, I dived in again, and learned even more. This was all tied to YouTube videos; reading this book, might bring things to a close, in terms of my interest. We’ll see.

I would likely never get a tattoo. It is sort of against my whole philosophy of life. I love change, impermanence, transition, and metamorphosis. I love that things come and go, are wiped away by something new. Even ephemera, nothing written in stone - the next time you see something, or experience something, it is different. Things change. Tattoos are not that. But they can be beautiful. But, locked in, let’s say.

Loving it. Gripping Crime novel.

I have had a neglected copy of this sitting around for too long. Time to get it read! And it’s something to do with paintings - I wish I had copped to that before. Anyway, fun to be getting to this so soon after Lust for Life.

Right, so, a bit of a Thinner vibe - scope of the premise, curse be upon you cuz you deserve it, hate and venom from beyond- and that's fine as far as I'm concerned. Lots of ghosts in my reading lately - shall have to find some Horror that is not ghost-infested, just for a change...but I like this one a lot, so far.

First half has been excellent.