Eggp > Recent Status Updates

Word: "I concluded that he had been the prey of some insidious, etiolating disease."


1. To render (a plant) pale or colourless by excluding the light from it; to blanch.

2. To give a pale and sickly hue to (a human being or his skin).

3. To become white or whiter; to blanch; to be whitened by exclusion of sunlight, as plants.

71. August Derleth & Mark Schorer - The Return of Andrew Bentley, 2 stars. Nephew inherits everything in exchange for babysitting his dead uncle's vault.
72. M.L. Humphreys - The Floor Above, 3 stars. Man receives a letter from long absent friend, requesting a visit.
73. Manly Wade Wellman - School for the Unspeakable, 2 stars. New boy at school is gullible, goes off with the first ghost that says boo.
93%

68. Arthur J. Burks - The Ghosts of Steamboat Coulee, 2 stars. Drifter accepts the kindness of country family, stays in their haunted cabin.
69. Thorp Mcclusky - The Considerate Hosts, 3 stars. Man's car breaks down during a storm, helpful couple try to get him to leave for unusual reason.
70. Cyril Mand - The Fifth Candle, 2 stars. Each year one mocking son is snuffed out by vengeful ghost dad.

65. Marjorie Bowen - The Avenging of Ann Leete, 3 stars. Jeweler tracks down the story behind a painting of a beautiful woman.
66. Greye La Spina - The Dead-Wagon, 2 stars. American marries into an English family with a curse that kills first born sons.
67. Urann Thayer - A Soul with Two Bodies, 2 stars. Lost soldier breaks into a vampire's(?) chateau, interrupting his dinner.

62. Algernon Blackwood - The Woman's Ghost Story, 3 stars. Paranormal investigator encounters an unexpected (and quite needy) ghost.
63. Victor Rousseau - The Angel of the Marne, 2 stars. Old soldier pals meet by chance, one rambles about his episode of patriotic divine intervention during the war.
64. Olivia Howard Dunbar - The Shell of Sense, 2 stars. Jealous ghost keeps her husband and sister apart.

Word: "After listening to a dozen prolix stories..."

1. Of long duration, lengthy, protracted.
  b. spec. Of a speech or writing: Extended to great length; long; lengthy. Usually with implication of excessive length: wordy, tedious.

2. Of a person: Given to or characterized by tedious lengthiness in discourse or writing; long-winded.

3. Long in measurement or extent.

59. Alexander Woollcott - Full Fathom Five, 2 stars. Reporter investigates ghost story about a dead sailor and seaweed.
60. H.R. Wakefield - He Cometh and He Passeth By, 3 stars. Loyal man plans magical revenge on the baddun responsible for the death of his friend.
61. Perceval Landon - Thurnley Abbey, 3 stars. Fellow passenger asks to spend the night in stranger's cabin, explains his ghostly encounter.

54. H.P. Lovecraft - The Terrible Old Man, 3 stars. [2015]
55. Erckmann-Chatrian - The Murderer's Violin, 2 stars. Uninspired musician spends the night at a cruddy inn.
56. Saki - The Open Window, 4 stars. [2018]
57. Saki - Laura, 3 stars. Prank loving woman predicts her reincarnation.
58. Fitz-James O'Brien - What Was It?, 3 stars. Boarder in haunted house is attacked by invisible (but tangible) being.

50. Edith Wharton - Afterward, 4 stars. Happy couple buys a vaguely haunted house, husband seems troubled.
51. Willa Cather - Consequences, 3 stars. Outgoing neighbor worries about critical old man stalking him.
52. Cynthia Asquith - The Follower, 3 stars. Woman sees an ugly man following her around.
53. Cynthia Asquith - The Corner Shop, 2 stars. Man purchases expensive curio for peanuts, splits the proceeds.

46. Joyce Carol Oates - Night-Side, 3 stars. Two skeptics investigate medium, one is converted to a hardcore believer.
47. M.R. James - Oh, Whistle and I'll Come to You My Lad, 4 stars. [2016]
48. W.W. Jacobs - The Monkey's Paw, 4 stars. [2018]
49. W.W. Jacobs - The Toll-House, 3 stars. Friends hype each other up to spend the night in a cursed/haunted house.

Pause for Spooktober.

Word: "But better to be alone during these crippling bouts than to endure the prinking of the courtiers..."

1. To set up, exalt; to display ostentatiously, show off.

2. To make spruce or smart; to deck or dress up with many petty adornments; to deck oneself out, dress oneself up.

5. To walk jauntily or affectedly. Also, to walk daintily or with precise movements.

43. Washington Irving - The Adventure of the German Student, 3 stars. Foreigner shelters/falls for beautiful woman of his dreams.
44. Joseph Shearing - They Found My Grave, 4 stars. Skeptical-but-fascinated girl is drawn in by braggart spirit, spends a lot of money on séances.
45. Edgar Jepson - Mrs. Morrel's Last Séance, 3 stars. Wealthy couple attend a séance with contrasting attitudes.

39. H.F. Arnold - The Night Wire, 3 stars. [2018]
40. Fritz Leiber - Smoke Ghost, 3 stars. [2018]
41. Wyatt Blassingame - Song of the Dead, 2 stars. Ghost of vengeful sailor haunts island, killing off visitors.
42. Wilkie Collins - The Dream Woman, 2 stars. Man dreams of his future wife trying to murder him, marries her anyway.

35. August Derleth - Pacific 421, 4 stars. Shady heir tries to turn ghost train to his advantage.
36. Robert Weinberg - The Midnight El, 3 stars. PI hops aboard a ghost train to find missing woman.
37. Frederick Cowles - Punch and Judy, 3 stars. Murderous puppeteer gets what's coming to him.
38. Henry S. Whitehead - The Fireplace, 3 stars. Ghost asks a lawyer to help punish the men who murdered him.

31. Isaac Asimov & James Maccreigh - Legal Rites, 4 stars. Ghost sues to stay in the home he's lived in for 90+ years.
32. Albert E. Cowdrey - Death Must Die, 3 stars. Uptight ghost of a teetotaling hangman haunts people he doesn't like.
33. Frank Stockton - The Transferred Ghost, 3 stars. Lover can't get the nerve up to propose, unlucky spirit tries to help.
34. Oscar Wilde - The Canterville Ghost, 4 stars. [2015]

Wiki: "...about thirty thousand visible acres of hilly sand, rock, and patches of sage and flame-tipped ocotillo."



Ocotillo > Live fencing

27. Mark Twain - A Ghost's Story, 2 stars. Confused ghost giant haunts his replica.
28. Donald E. Westlake - In at the Death, 3 stars. Man kills himself to punish his wife for infidelity.
29. Nathaniel Hawthorne - The Ghost of Dr. Harris, 2 stars. Man sees a distinguished library ghost, but never interacts with it.
30. Ingulphus - The Everlasting Club, 3 stars. Blasphemous college club continues to meet after death.

Wiki: "Stripped of its filmy housings, naked, muscular and comely, the majestic Cardiff Giant loomed above me!"

23. A.M. Burrage - Playmates, 2 stars. Lonely girl makes friends with nice christian ghosts.
24. Ramsey Campbell - Just Behind You, 3 stars. Father takes son to his boss's bratty son's birthday party.
25. A.E. Coppard - Adam and Eve and Pinch Me, 1 star. Guy has an out of body experience/visions.
26. Steve Friedman - The Lost Boy of the Ozarks, 3 stars. Drunk reporter "investigates" boy missing in the woods.

Volume 2: Summer. Est. 1914-1939

B04. At Lady Molly's - 14-16 Sep, 4 stars. 1934. 32%

B05. Casanova's Chinese Restaurant - 16-18 Sep, 5 stars. 1928-1937. 32%

B06. The Kindly Ones - 18-19 Sep, 5 stars. 1914-1939. 36%

B06 - CH03
Giles dies in a seedy seaside hotel, Nick sees to his affairs. Meeting Duport, Nick is shocked to learn that Jean made fools of them both. Giles leaves all to the psychic from B03.

B06 - CH04
The war is on, Nick is stuck in reserve. Widmerpool is thrilled with his position, they ask each other for favors. Moreland's wife leaves him for Magnus, he ends up at Molly's. Jeavons surprise brother proves useful.