Two Envelopes And A Phone > Recent Status Updates

There’s a lot going on, and set to music…

Okay...I'm questioning why the character has amnesia in this story at all. It's being strangely handled fine, a long coma has affected his memory...but the instant he needs to remember a specific thing, he calms himself, and the memory comes back. So...from a story perspective, the amnesia doesn't affect anything, do you get what I'm saying? If the amnesia crumbles basically on command, why is it a plot point?...

Well, it’s certainly an interesting story. I’m happy with this; there’s no way to predict where it’s heading.

Like most really popular books that almost everyone loves, this one is written in First-Person Smart-Aleck Casual. I was hoping not; but there it is. I was expecting it, and I knew that this writer uses humour...but yeah, I've got to get used to what will likely be a great SF story, done in Off-the-Cuff Snark. It's fine, it's hardly a deal-breaker, I know what the people want.

Shall start this tomorrow morning. Expectations: High.

I’m a cat person, and the story was charming plus just tricky enough, so I really enjoyed this collection’s opener: ‘The Trinity Cat’ by Ellis Peters.

Enjoying it.

I’ll deal with Calamity in Kent first - and then the plan is to do two or three stories from this book, before committing to my first novel-length SF choice in a while, Project Hail Mary. Then, I’ll either finish up what remains of this, or at the very least read bunches of stories in between a few more novels. Short story collections have been a rousing success lately.

Well, I can’t keep putting off books I own by this author, ‘just because’ the average rating from readers suggest disappointing, dull vibes. I have to buck up and give this a try, and eventually his museum-based one.

I just finished the story ‘Devil of a Boy’ by Seiichi Morimura, and it is easily my favourite entry thus far. The twist was fabulous, and I was more emotionally involved with what was going on; all the other tales were written in more of a dispassionate vein, as if I was seeing something from more of a distance. But Morimura definitely brought me right in with the characters, including the ‘devil of a boy’.

Anarky was a character designed to mimic some of what Alan Moore had done with V, right down to similar costumes. But some interesting decisions were made to somehow give him his own vibe. He never does escape being a V imitation, but I love the red and gold costume, and the unpredictable storylines.

I love these books - but the "snack time is ANY time" routine that repeatedly plays out will always seem a bit strange to me. Sure, if someone hands me a cookie as I'm dying, or brings pie to the battle of the century, I'll indulge a sweet tooth. But - I dunno - eating at odd times is a big thing in this series; Lockwood himself just took a "gum before ghosts" attitude; they're all impulse snackers, for sure.

It's getting good, just like the series always does.

Great first chapter.

Normally, I read the stories in a collection in order - but it being Halloween, I picked out two later tales to get me started, because the titles are the creepiest. I just read 'The Vampire' by Masako Tagawa; it was not at all what I was expecting, but overall I liked it, and it was certainly creepy. Next will be 'A Letter From The Dead' by Tohru Miyoshi. Then I'll switch to Lockwood & Co., tonight.