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Below, I mention how I liked each story and include a favorite quote:
A poem. Very creepy but I’d rather have read a Gaiman story.
Walking among us are the members of a secret company. I don’t know what I took away from this story if anything.
This was actually an excerpt from one of Tanith Lee’s novels. It was also the first time I read anything by her. I liked the imagery that her words created. For instance:
You’d appreciate this story more if you focused on how it was written rather than the plot. I did and I ended up liking it!
A literally visceral story about a man who discovers his remote can do much more than change channels!
A story that brings to mind dictatorships and restrictive regimes, such as the Prohibition in the Cromwell era. Oh, and a girl falls in love with a tiger!
This one was about a splinter group of people who left their human status behind by choice fighting for their rights.
Smoking is banned. Smokers decided to retaliate.
The beginning of the story is set up to deceive the reader. The end is one of the saddest endings I have ever read!
A blind girl will accept you into her family but she needs a sacrifice first.
A hidden cult in the midst of the society and a boy with a dying mother looking for a place to fit in.
Can you even said to be alive, if your insides have been replaced with metal? No, this isn’t about Wolverine!
There’s necrophilia and there are grim peepers. Read this story, if you love being grossed out.
This story is based on a certain type of “outsiders” who like to watch accidents.
A planned hit where the hitman isn’t on the complete plan.
Beautiful imagery is one of the characteristics of this story. The other is heartbreak!
Simply gross but a fitting addition to this collection. A wannabe pop star ends up in a gore-hardcore bar. She doesn’t make it out.
A teenager’s depression comes out to play!
The going ons in a restaurant with some very interesting characters thrown in!
Expectant mothers miscarry all around the world. No one knows why until we reach the end of the story…*shudder*
A sad story about the dreams of those below being crushed by the powers that be. This line from the story says it all:
Another favorite quote:
A broken man tired of being put down by the whole world makes friends…with shadows…who talk to him…
Lighten Up by Jack Ketchum
Pit Boy by Elizabeth Massie
Miss Singularity by John Shirley
The Working Slob’s Prayer by Poppy Z. Brite
Have you read this anthology? Which ones are your favorites?
Originally published at midureads.wordpress.com on September 13, 2017.
I don't normally post monthly summaries, but since I felt like going over my books for September, I figured I might as well post the results. I read 16 "books" (in quotation marks because some weren't quite novel-length although heavy-weights like The First Man in Rome help balance things out) in September. I liked more than I disliked (and some of the lower-rated ones still had some good points) so I'd call that a good month. See, I don't hate everything.
4.5 stars
4 stars
3.5 stars
3 stars
2.5 stars
2 stars
1.5 stars
1 star
I read this as the September buddy read. This is one of those good old fashion ghost stories. I had to keep reminding myself that it was written in the 1960s and some of the actions and reactions of the characters were definitely old fashion.
This was the first book I read of Barbara Michaels, I believe. She is a very good writer and kept my interest throughout the book.
I did enjoy the fact that the main couple in this story were in their 40s/50s even if the author did remind the reader a few too many times of them being grey and over-the-hill. :)
I would definitely be open to trying another one of her books maybe written a bit later though to see how her character development differs through the years.
Checked off another square for the Halloween Bingo!
Work has been slow this month. The downside? Less money. The upside? More reading! Some reviews are still to come.
