Justin Partridge > Recent Status Updates

I both hate and absolutely love that these goddamn books have turned me into a giggling idiot every time I hit the number 19 in anything now. Come commalla May it do ya just fuckin fine.

I had fully forgotten how goddamn sad the end of Nick’s introduction is (“He carried her like a groom, going over an endless threshold”) and I had ALSO forgotten the first Flagg chapter establishes that it was HIS idea to grab Patty Hearst and drive her batty and then LEFT 20 minutes before the cops showed up.

Christ on a bike this book is so fun

“Now you know it works. Any questions? Starkey realized that he was crying. Because he didn’t have any questions.”

I’m still not loving this like I hoped I would, but it’s very charming to me that the main driving crux of this book is people making little clubs within clubs and how much it freaks people out.

One of the other amazing things about this is how it’s clearly very rooted in the 90s and post-Regan dysphoria but it never feels dated. Even with all the explicit early 90s references, it all feels vital. It’s all a World Moving On to get us to The World That HAS Moved On. Encased in yuppie, religiously drunk nightmares.

It’s a straight fuckin’ line from post-Trips NYC to Lud. Not even that far either.

“Seeds planted often had a way of sprouting no matter what.”

POKERIZER!

I am starting to get into the stuff about just how insanely communicable Captain Trips is and it’s truly hysterical in the darkest possible sense. Especially RIGHT NOW.

But again it’s all so textured and charmingly down-to-earth, nothing has been a significant bummer or instantly triggering like Insomnia was. It’s like weirdly fun because you get so much flavor and plot without too much raw exposition

Truly appreciating how 80% of these so far have been open horror/slasher set ups.

All these opening vignettes are like oversaturated with insane details but somehow never reads or flows as overstuffed. It’s kind of miraculous.

All these opening vignettes still just fuckin’ rule and give you such a clear sense of where we are going to be headed over the next billion pages. GOD I’m so excited about this.

“Take the Great Wall of China, for example. One brick at a time, man. One brick at a time. And I’ve read you can see that motherfucker from space!”

God, this is gonna be so fucking fun.

“Him’s name is Roland, momma. I dream about him, sometimes. Him’s a King too.”

Hard. Ugly. Crying, y’all.

I love that this thing is so good it just casually throws you a pair of stories that pick up minutes after one another. It’s like it’s still the same cadence and turn of phrase you love and recognize as Bradbury but it’s applied to like some really gnarly and tautly mean little stories. It’s kind of amazing?

“He found Juke lying in a chemical bath. Red chemical from his own body where a knife had dug out his dreams and his living and his talking forever and spread it around in a scarlet lake”

This thing is really starting to not fuck about. It’s fun seeing Bradbury being so mean and openly pulpy.

Dipping back into my PDA/EDA collection for some Third Doctor and Sarah Jane solving time crimes!

The opening is a bit slow but as it continued, it was really cool to get the hook (the Doctor is shown in a newspaper picture in 1952, weeks before the Great Smog) and its crime fiction flavoring fully established. It’s basically like an Endeavor episode atm it’s a fun use of the Third Doctor and Sarah Jane.

This thing is shockingly gnarly and existentially terrifying than usual Star Trek. Suuuuuper curious as to where this is all going.

*doctor strange voice* we’re in the endgame™️ now.

*Doctor Strange voice* we’re in the endgame™️ now.

Part III

We’ve reached the “killer doll” portion of the story collection now.

Very much appreciating the sudden turn into WARHAMMER 40k this is taking.

“If he died by someone else’s bullet, there’d be no justice to it.”

I truly don’t know how but this thing has jumped from Great to Truly Incredible in its final movements. It’s got so many moving parts and twists but never feels distant or too smart for me. It’s just a towering achievement of a book. I can’t wait for y’all to read it.