Two Envelopes And A Phone > Recent Status Updates

It’s so strange to have this book - never thought I would ever hold something like this in my hands. Anyway, enough of the dreamy stupor of bliss…I’ve read the title story, which went on to inspire a novel I love, Night of the Jabberwock, though ‘The Gibbering Night’ is quite different. Also read the essay about how dull Superman is, given his invulnerability. Note: I own #304, of the 425 first editions printed.

I absolutely loved When Worlds Collide, which makes up the first half of my edition…and I’m almost ready for the second part of the book, which is actually the sequel, After Worlds Collide. But I’m taking a little break, with some Fredric Brown short material, and maybe even one more Crime novel after that. But this has been great so far, and I will not put the sequel off for very long!

So…today, a Crime & Mystery bookstore that will be closing down soon let me go down in the basement and make piles of any books I wanted to buy. They have been in business for over 40 years and they know me very well. Anyway, this was obviously heaven on earth for me - most of the stuff I had to leave for a while so they can price it…but they let me take the Fredric Brown titles ahead of schedule, and I’m thrilled.

Reading an adept creation of the end of the world is always a profound experience.

Very excited to be getting to this - and did not at first realize that my edition also includes the sequel, After Worlds Collide! I do think I will read one non-SF pick in between them.

So I'm right back where I was as I read One Deadly Summer - "It's very good, but I'm not sure he's going to top The Lady in the Car with Glasses and a Gun". But I love watching him try.

It’s great.

After two of his books in fairly quick succession, I'm ready to say Japrisot works for me as an old reliable, so here I go again...

Loving it.

Well, I had The Man With Six Senses cued up for next…but at the last minute I’m going with this Horror tale. The funny thing is, I discovered as I made this last minute switch, that both novels are from the same year! Weird, but 1927 apparently was not to be denied!

How very odd.

Girl 4 by Carver is one of my all-time favorite Mystery novels, and narrowly stays out of my Top Ten Ranking only because there are so many great Mysteries, and I just can't figure out how to fit twelve books on a Top Ten List. But Girl 4 has meant that I would read any book by the author.

“This is a Splatter Western?! Where’s the splatter? There’s no gore, this seems very tame and I don’t think you can call this a…oh here we go, this is, this is, yeah okay okay, alright alright okay, yeah that’s - that’s gross…that’s gross on gross with a side of gross, I have been splattered…”

This looks like either a cage-rattler, or a caged rattler. Or both. Probably firmly in my discomfort zone, but let’s see what happens!

Love it. Flashing back a teeny bit to You’d Be Surprised, by Cheyney; very happy there’s an espionage angle. Hammer’s infiltration of the meeting reminded me to a scene in a Bogart spy movie I just watched and love: All Through The Night (though that’s part-Comedy). Spillane has a special place in my heart because his favourite Fredric Brown novel, His Name Was Death, is my favourite too!