Eggp > Recent Status Updates

Wiki: "The rebuilding, every twenty years, of Ise Temple, the supreme shrine of the Sun-Goddess, is an example of one of these ancient rites which still obtain at the present day."

10. Tooth Fairy, 4 stars. Eater and killer kid collects bones and teeth.
11. Invisible Joy, 2 stars. Shallow woman blames dead husband for her discontent, has an unexpected visitor.
12. Plucker, 2 stars. Obsessive picker frames her life around plucking, can't keep a job.

06. Spilt Milk, 1 star. Abused boy kills father.
07. Fish Tale, 2 stars. Paralyzed woman looks forward to water therapy.
08. Decaf or Regular?, 2 stars. Nervous guy takes a barista class.
09. Birthday Boy, 2 stars. Teenager gets released from mental institution on his birthday.

01. Bee's Knees, 2 stars. Woman dies in childbirth.
02. George, 2 stars. Creepy kid steals stuff for his collections.
03. Heel Toe, 2 stars. Cinderella's stepmother is questioned about the maiming of her daughters.
04. Octopus, 2 stars. Abusive mother has a headache, remembers her childhood.
05. Super Friends, 2 stars. Compulsive eater talks to cardboard friends, plays video games.

Word: "... and the whole grey, dismal pother of life would be over, once and for all!"

1. A choking smoke or atmosphere of dust.

2.
a. Disturbance, commotion, turmoil, bustle; a tumult, uproar; a noise, din.

b. transf. A verbal commotion, stir, or fuss.


3. Mental perturbation or tumult; trouble, fuss; display of sorrow or grief.

19. Frithjof Spalder - The White Cormorant, 3 stars. Young man is challenged/warned by an old drunk, falls for the trap immediately.
20. Yvette Tan - All the Birds, 3 stars. Woman returns home from the big city to care for her dying best friend, the relationship develops into more.
21. José María Latorre - Snapshots, 3 stars. Disbelieving man keeps looking more and more decrepit in his photobooth pictures.

16. Solange Rodríguez Pappe - Tiny Women, 3 stars. Daughter finds vermin infesting her parents' hoarder house, brother is a sleazeball.
17. Elisenda Solsona - Mechanisms, 4 stars. Husbands bicker on their working vacation, photographer doesn't have time to think about anything but art.
18. Bathie Ngoye Thiam - The House of Leuk Dawour, 3 stars. Rich girl is slumming it, gets high and thinks she saw an evil spirit.

Wiki: "That is what chessplayers call Zugzwang, my good Master Pernath!"

13. Marko Hautala - Pale Toes, 4 stars. Couple with a large age difference let some random creepy bar guy give them a secret cave tour.
14. Martin Steyn - Kira, 3 stars. Man stays alone at the family vacation home, encounters friendly dog and lonely rusalka.
15. Lars Ahn - Donation, 3 stars. Newly engaged couple face off against a child that refuses to leave their home until they prove their love is true.

10. Christien Boomsma - The Bones in Her Eyes, 4 stars. Compassionate woman feels terrible after she hits an old couple's cat, returns the next day to check on them.
11. Ariane Gélinas - Twin Shadows, 3 stars. Deceased twin's ghost becomes increasingly jealous of sister's life away from home.
12. Anders Fager - Backstairs, 4 stars. Psychiatrist tries to help a young woman suffering from disturbing nightmares.

Wiki: "Thus there was a sample of each and every species of flowering plant blossoming outside our house, from the most humble to the most spectacular: from sea grape to leatherwood..."

07. Bernardo Esquinca - Señor Ligotti, 3 stars. Struggling author accepts a deal too good to be true, creepy man keeps turning up in his home.
08. Michael Roch - The Illogical Investigations of Inspector André Despérine, 2 stars. Moony new policeman rises rapidly in the ranks because everyone else dies.
09. Flore Hazoumé - Menopause, 3 stars. Older women disappear, only older men married to young pretty women exist.

Wiki: "Despérine was looking for a way to flee, his fingers inadvertently touched the sharp edge of a harrow positioned at the front of the farm vehicle."

04. Cristina Fernández Cubas - The Angle of Horror, 2 stars. Sister tries to help her brother through a depressive episode.
05. Flavius Ardelean - Down, in Their World, 3 stars. Foolhardy men go down a cursed mine to steal iron, disturb the inhabitants.
06. Tanya Tynjälä - The Collector, 3 stars. Man is in love with a secretive woman that won't sleep with him, is excited by her proposal of a weekend alone.

Wiki: "You’ve got a natterjack in your garden."

Wiki: "A few people were walking along the riverbank to stand at Gelert’s grave and read the questionable legend."

01. Luigi Musolio - Uironda, 3 stars. Trucker resents his ex-wife for divorcing him, won't take responsibility.
02. Pilar Pedraza - Mater Tenebrarum, 3 stars. Gravedigger's dog falls in love with a scrawny thief, she takes shortcuts in her witchcraft education.
03. Attila Veres - The Time Remaining, 5 stars. Cold-hearted mother convinces child his toy is terminally ill, he attempts drastic surgical rescue.

DNF

01. Webs, 1 star. Grumpy guy thinks about his drunken shell-shocked father while waiting for the wife to come back from the bathroom.
02. Chasing Moonlight, 2 stars. Pathetic junkie robs graves with a dominating goth, finds a new master in a ritzy tomb.

16. Henry Slesar - The Candidate, 4 stars. Ruthless businessman takes every opportunity to slag off an older colleague, gets contacted about a secret society.
17. Theodore Sturgeon - It, 3 stars. Curious sludge creature wanders around ripping plants/animals/people apart for science, does serious damage to farming family.

14. Donald E. Westlake - Journey To Death, 2 stars. Ship sinks with two men trapped in the billiards room, they crack up waiting for rescue.
15. Algis Budrys - The Master Of The Hounds, 4 stars. Selfish artist husband pushes his wife around, rents a summer cottage from a forceful war hero.

11. Robert Somerlott - Evening At The Black House, 3 stars. Man visits nervous friends for dinner, tells them he was being followed earlier.
12. William Wood - One Of The Dead, 2 stars. Middle-aged couple builds a new house, flirtatious neighbor puts a strain on their marriage.
13. Robert Specht - The Real Thing, 3 stars. Nasty adult bully plays pranks on a simple-minded man, convinces him vampires are real.

08. Margaret St. Clair - The Estuary, 3 stars. Scavenger of rotting ship parts ignores his young workers worries about strange noises in the hull.
09. William Sambrot - Tough Town, 3 stars. Door-to-door salesman has a terrible day, is pursued relentlessly by the townsfolk.
10. T.H. White - The Troll, 3 stars. Otherwise sane man peeks through a keyhole and witnesses a troll eating a woman, troll knows he can see it.

Wiki: "If one wanted to find a wise woman, one went to the rims of the Hebrides; on the coast of Brittany one sought the mass of St. Secaire."

05. Thomas M. Disch - Casablanca, 4 stars. Americans on holiday retain their 'murican attitude despite the USA getting nuked into oblivion.
06. Adobe James - The Road To Mictlantecutli, 3 stars. Criminal escapes the hangman once again, but gets into big trouble in the desert.
07. Ellis Peters - Guide To Doom, 3 stars. Inquisitive tourist is given a private tour of the well a country girl drowned herself in.

Wiki: "Come on, I'll give you a ride to Mictlantecutli's ranch . . . you can call for help from there."

01. Irvin S. Cobb - Fishhead, 4 stars. [2021]
02. Basil Copper - Camera Obscura, 3 stars. Heartless loanshark hassles a seemingly wealthy man about his debt.
03. Miriam Allen deFord - A Death in The Family, 4 stars. Lonely undertaker collects bodies to become part of his "family".
04. Robert Arthur - The Knife, 3 stars. Everyone covets a beautiful knife found in the muck, but it's too bloodthirsty to hold for long.

40. Simon Raven - The Bottle of 1912, 3 stars. Soldier returning from the war can't wait to see his sister and her family after all these years.
41. Robert Aickman - The Cicerones, 4 stars. Tourist is surprised by the emptiness of the cathedral he's having a nice long ramble in.
42. T.H. White - Soft Voices at Passenham, 4 stars. Macabre man tells snippets of ghost stories, his friend performed a concert for ghosts.

Wiki: "It is galling to be cut by anybody, and to be positively sent to Coventry , as he had done with all the shire ghosts, must have made them feel very small beer."

Word: "The Cicerones by Robert Aickman"

1. A guide who shows and explains the antiquities or curiosities of a place to strangers.

Apparently originally given to learned Italian antiquarians, whose services were sought by visitors seeking information about the antiquities of a place; subsequently usurped by the ordinary professional ‘guide’.