tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20953260069799853032024-02-19T08:28:42.271-08:00Short Story LogJacobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12564411584185976957noreply@blogger.comBlogger43125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095326006979985303.post-64197160047593307982013-09-02T08:42:00.002-07:002013-09-02T08:44:43.564-07:00Kaleidoscope by Ray BradburyWhat's it all about? How does one live their life so that when death comes it is not filled with regret? Common thoughts for soul-searchers, and Ray Bradbury.<br />
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<a href="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v693/penguin-91210/Kaleidoscope.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v693/penguin-91210/Kaleidoscope.jpg" width="284" /></a>And so it is with Bradbury's astronauts in <i>Kaleidoscope</i>, who are free-falling through space to their death after their rocket explodes. One of the astronauts, Hollis, feels a streak of misery and malice, and begins to put down the others, especially Lespere who is content having lived a full life. Hollis contends that they are all the same: dead. But Lespere argues that he lived a full life and has his thoughts and memories, so he refuses to get mean like Hollis. Hollis realizes his indignity, and that there <i>was </i>a difference in lives. Lespere has memories of a full life and Hollis simply has dreams of things undone.<br />
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Thus is the brilliance of Bradbury: looking us dead in the eyes (or hearts) and challenging us to live a fulfilled life, to have our memories when we pass on, and have our peace. Like many of his stories, <i>Kaleidoscope</i> searches the recesses of our souls and encourages the reader to grab life by the reigns as Bradbury most certainly did. Great read, great therapy.</div>
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Jacobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12564411584185976957noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095326006979985303.post-86911958603760830722012-02-14T09:31:00.000-08:002012-02-14T09:31:50.700-08:00A Day in Town by Ernest HaycoxJoe Blunt brings his family to town to ask for a loan from the bank. His crop at Christmas Creek is not coming in and he needs supplies for his children. The banker, McKercher, tries to let Joe down easy, and stalls his refusal by telling Joe to return in an hour. Before he leaves, McKercher notices a slight gesture Joe makes towards his shirt pocket. Knowing he will be refused in an hour, Joe meanders around town while his wife and children wait in the wagon under the hot sun. Joe is refused at every turn, no work available anywhere. When he returns to the bank, he is refused by McKercher, whom notices the gesture towards the pocket once more. The banker offers Joe a cigar, and he refuses. McKercher decides to give Joe a loan.<br />
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McKercher explains to a teller that Joe was out of tobacco, and was too proud to take some from him.<br />
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Joe returns to his family, surprised he got the money. The wife says they will buy the needed supplies, some nice things for the baby, and some tobacco for Joe.<br />
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Fantastic Western. A touching little story about men's hearts, and pride.Jacobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12564411584185976957noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095326006979985303.post-40594079572382371402012-02-06T15:26:00.000-08:002012-02-06T15:26:41.858-08:00A Tale of the Ragged Mountains by Edgar Allan Poe<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://tarajacoby.com/files/gimgs/13_rgdmtnsdeath1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://tarajacoby.com/files/gimgs/13_rgdmtnsdeath1.jpg" width="143" /></a></div>A tale of mesmerism about a young man named Bedloe who may be the reincarnation of a man who lived years earlier named Oldeb (In his obit, his name was misspelled "Bedlo").<br />
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Contains Poe's sharp tongue, but not his best work. Very ambiguous, which leads to some plot confusion.Jacobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12564411584185976957noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095326006979985303.post-64324255541724198002012-02-02T06:51:00.000-08:002012-02-02T06:51:47.989-08:00The Body Snatcher by Robert Louis StevensonThree friends are sharing a drink when a well-off doctor named Macfarlane enters. One of the friends, Fettes, is apparently an old acquaintance of Macfarlane and accosts him angrily.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgko-MKurDCL1XthA2CW24D34g7VKlzRyOXbtwEXGF462McH7acld-MUBp9MTqSGTEVSA38_SMWqUwszkIjIqSsEn5Ccvcn0cHr2fOCJwPSvvE2BvVUGswq7hyGinRcGdzDLGX7WVOXWwU/s1600/bsnatch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgko-MKurDCL1XthA2CW24D34g7VKlzRyOXbtwEXGF462McH7acld-MUBp9MTqSGTEVSA38_SMWqUwszkIjIqSsEn5Ccvcn0cHr2fOCJwPSvvE2BvVUGswq7hyGinRcGdzDLGX7WVOXWwU/s320/bsnatch.jpg" width="225" /></a>The friends find that the pair attended medical school together years earlier and part of their duties included collecting bodies for dissection and paying the suspicious men who supply them.<br />
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Fettes recalls receiving the body of a woman whom he knew, convinced she was murdered. Macfarlane talks Fettes out of reporting the incident.<br />
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On a later occasion, Fettes recalls Macfarlane receiving very rude treatment from a man named Gray. On the following night, Macfarlane brings Gray's body for dissection. Again, Macfarlane talks Fettes out of reporting the incident. The two men intricately dissect the body and send it to various institutes for study.<br />
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Fettes and Macfarlane are never implicated of the crime and continue their work. With a shortage of bodies, they are asked to extract a recently buried woman from the grave. As they head back from the cemetery, the body between them, they get anxious and nervous. They decide to take a better look at the body and to their horror, it is the body of Gray, which they thought they had destroyed.<br />
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Great little macabre tale from Stevenson. Interesting supernatural-esque ending that totally twists the naturalist presentation of the story.Jacobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12564411584185976957noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095326006979985303.post-33598530079239150062012-01-29T21:48:00.000-08:002012-01-29T21:48:43.164-08:00Beyond the Door by Philip K. Dick<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://cynthiahoweminiatures.com/shop/images/cuckoo%201.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://cynthiahoweminiatures.com/shop/images/cuckoo%201.jpg" width="114" /></a></div>Larry buys a cuckoo clock for his wife, but is snide about how he got it wholesale. This upsets Doris, who has been having an emotional affair with Bob. Bob comes over and Doris shows him the clock, but Larry shows up and kicks them both out, saying that the clock stays because he paid for it. Larry grows to disdain the clock, which will not chime for him, ever. He goes to destroy it with a hammer, giving it one last chance to come out. The bird does come out, and flies straight into Larry's eye, breaking his neck.Jacobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12564411584185976957noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095326006979985303.post-79535694060473715172012-01-28T23:11:00.000-08:002012-01-28T23:11:20.050-08:00Second Variety by Philip K. Dick<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/32032/32032-h/images/illo1-left.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/32032/32032-h/images/illo1-left.jpg" width="228" /></a></div>The story takes place in in the post-nuclear landscape of Russia, who is at war with the United Nations. The UN has developed a series of crab-like robots, called claws, that destroy human targets. The story opens with a Russian approaching the UN bunker and getting completely obliterated by several claws. The UN forces realize that the soldier was carrying a distress signal and they send Hendricks to negotiate. Along the way, Hendricks meets a small boy, David. David refuses to stay back and Hendricks allows him to follow.<br />
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When they reach the meeting place, three Russians fire at the two travels, destroying the boy. But to Hendrick's surprise the boy was a robot. The three Russians- Klaus, Ruddi, and Tasso, a local prostitute- explain that the claws have developed their own killer robots, which have annihilated their forces. David is the third variety, or III-V. A wounded soldier was the first, or I-V. That means that they have yet to identify the second variety, II-V. During the night, Klaus kills Rudi, believing he is the second kind, but he was not.<br />
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The three remaining men make their way back to the UN camp, each suspicious of the next. When they reach it, there is no sign of life, just several David's attack them. In the gunfight, Tasso kills Klaus, gears and wheels go flying, meaning he must be the II-V. Tasso also throws a grenade-like bomb that destroys all the David's.<br />
<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/32032/32032-h/images/illo2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/32032/32032-h/images/illo2.jpg" width="135" /></a>Suffering from internal injuries and a wounded arm, Hendrick's hopes to escape to the secret UN moon base. He and Tasso find the hidden escape pod, but it holds only one passenger. Tasso convinces Hendricks to let her take the pod and return for help. She flies away and Hendricks looks at Klaus' remains, which reveal he was the IV-V robot, not the II-V. He is attacked by a group of robots, including the wounded soldier, David, and several Tassos. Hendrick does have one final comfort as he sees that the Tassos have the bombs, which means the robots are already building machines that will destroy their own kind.<br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"> <span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;">Dick said of the story: "My grand theme—who is human and who only appears (masquerading) as human?—emerges most fully. Unless we can individually and collectively be certain of the answer to this question, we face what is, in my view, the most serious problem possible. Without answering it adequately, we cannot even be certain of our own selves. I cannot even know myself, let alone you. So I keep working on this theme; to me nothing is as important a question. And the answer comes very hard."</span></span><br />
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An influential science fiction story from Dick. Great ironic suspense tale.Jacobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12564411584185976957noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095326006979985303.post-47034480771338429832012-01-22T14:29:00.000-08:002012-01-22T14:29:28.990-08:00The Good Husband by Evelyn E. Smith<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/159/412832793_de1d398e6c.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/159/412832793_de1d398e6c.jpg" width="150" /></a></div>Ellen marries John, a man that seemed stuffy to her until she got older. As he begins to come home later and later she becomes suspicious, but does not want to nag him. She decides to follow him to work one morning and follows him to the family plot. As a vampire, John sleeps there during the day. At least he was not carrying on with another woman she thinks.<br />
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Clever and witty short.Jacobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12564411584185976957noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095326006979985303.post-13919121693059435112012-01-21T12:01:00.000-08:002012-01-22T15:16:21.518-08:00The Eyes Have It by Philip K. DickThe narrator thinks he has discovered an alien invasion in literature, but he simply does not get figurative language.<br />
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Nice little tale of science fiction whimsy.Jacobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12564411584185976957noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095326006979985303.post-42860623285038598602012-01-21T11:20:00.000-08:002012-01-22T14:30:16.040-08:00The Skull by Philip K. Dick<a href="http://img2.imagesbn.com/images/107330000/107336436.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://img2.imagesbn.com/images/107330000/107336436.jpg" width="213" /></a>Conger is given a chance to get out of prison early if he travels back in time to kill a man that starts a religious movement that changes the world. He is given only a skull to identify the man. He travels back to a small town in 1960. There, locals start to take notice of him and he is labeled a communist by some. As the day the arrives when the man will appear, Conger realizes that the skull is his own, and he is the man that will change the world.<br />
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Good twisted noirish tale from one of the masters of science fiction.<br />
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<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/30255/30255-h/30255-h.htm">Free text of the story.</a> (Public Domain)Jacobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12564411584185976957noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095326006979985303.post-6056590374576811852012-01-03T09:05:00.000-08:002012-01-22T14:31:38.385-08:00Feeding Time by James Gunn<a href="http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Observer/Pix/pictures/2010/7/30/1280514758124/Woman-on-couch-006.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="120" src="http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Observer/Pix/pictures/2010/7/30/1280514758124/Woman-on-couch-006.jpg" width="200" /></a>A woman's therapy session leads to her releasing an inner monster (literally) that devours her therapist.<br />
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Pretty quirky and oddly frightening fantasy story.Jacobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12564411584185976957noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095326006979985303.post-39040679375996906442012-01-03T09:00:00.000-08:002012-01-22T14:32:39.032-08:00Devlin's Dream by George Clayton Johnson<a href="http://www.bowtreewholesale.com/shop/images/products/preview/scw003.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.bowtreewholesale.com/shop/images/products/preview/scw003.jpg" /></a>Cowboy Cooney Devlin wakes from a nightmare in which he had no right arm and he watched a hawk circle in judgement. He is immensely disturbed, especially because that is the hand he uses to draw and shoot his side arm. He practices drawing with his left arm and when satisfied, rides into town and picks a fight in a bar with a Swede . He draws from his left and shoots the Swede dead. Satisfied that he can draw quick enough if he ever loses his primary hand, he switches the gun back to his right. Just then, the sheriff enters and the two men have a standoff. Cooney reaches for his hip, his left hip, and is shot by the sheriff. The narrator steps outside as Cooney's right arm is removed at the shoulder. A lone hawk circles in the night sky.<br />
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What a great western short! Dark and foreboding. Such a great little read.Jacobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12564411584185976957noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095326006979985303.post-57124030939303912432011-12-30T09:06:00.000-08:002012-01-22T14:34:13.930-08:00Echoes by Lawrence C. ConnollyA mother tries desperately not to give in to her son's fantasy that his younger brother's ghost is in the house. The family was in an accident that left one son dead, and mother and father broken physically and emotionally. The mother tries to change the subject when Billy speaks of his dead brother, Paul. She says maybe he can go with her to the store later, ignoring his mentions of his brother, and hoping she is getting through to him. When the father gets home and the couple sits down to dinner, he asks why the TV is on. She asks for him to let the boy be, but he goes in and turns off the set. He says he doesn't like the set playing to an EMPTY room. The mother goes to the store alone, and the father sits in the empty house, hoping he is getting through to her...<br />
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Emotionally charged, dark, well-written, and great little ghost story. Pretty good twist in the end.<br />
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<a href="http://lawrencecconnolly.com/2011/07/20/echoes-now-available-on-youtube/">Author's Page</a><br />
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There is a short film based on the story. Great cinematography; the use of cool/grey colors that contrast with the warm/bright colors used in the fantasy/flashback are fantastic.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/a5qYvUOuFwQ" width="420"></iframe>Jacobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12564411584185976957noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095326006979985303.post-83838591353533330202011-12-30T08:44:00.000-08:002012-01-22T14:35:44.892-08:00Give Her Hell by Donald A. Wollheim<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://toby-d.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/demon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://toby-d.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/demon.jpg" width="281" /></a></div>The narrator physically and verbally abuses his wife and daughter because, "woman know only one master." When his daughter runs away at sixteen he arranges to have her put in an asylum for the rest of her life. His wife eventually runs away with his law partner, who fights to gain custody of the daughter and looks to sell the narrator out in court. So the narrator turns to the Devil. He makes a deal to have his daughter returned to the asylum, his wife returned home, and his partner killed. The Devil agrees, but wants his soul. The narrator bargains to be reincarnated after his current life is over. The deal is struck, and that very night, the law partner dies in a fire, and his wife escapes the house, but is unable to divorce her husband because of the scandalous pictures taken at the scene. The narrator has it put in his will that the daughter remain in the asylum past his death. As the narrator lies on his deathbed, he complains of Satan "cheating" him. He is to be reincarnated...as his own daughter.<br />
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Devious little story. "Punishment fits the crime?" You have to hand it to Satan on this one.Jacobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12564411584185976957noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095326006979985303.post-43696948462961792762011-12-25T17:05:00.000-08:002012-01-22T14:35:08.956-08:00Dead Call by William F. Nolan<a href="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/223/488078084_89e50beea6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/223/488078084_89e50beea6.jpg" width="200" /></a><br />
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Frank receives a call from Len, who killed himself a month before. Len tells him about how great death is and he eventually convinces Frank to kill himself. The story ends by telling the reader that the phone is ringing and they'd better answer it...<br />
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Very creepy horror story. Does what a good horror story should: evokes and disturbs the reader.Jacobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12564411584185976957noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095326006979985303.post-21752383170887436462011-12-25T16:50:00.000-08:002012-01-22T14:41:10.716-08:00The Curse of Hooligan's Bar by Charles E. FritchThe narrator sits alone at Hooligan's bar on New Year's Eve and orders Martinis. Hooligan gives him a martini "on the house," so he doesn't complain about the drink missing an olive. When the clock strikes twelve and the celebration begins around him, the narrator spots a tiny leprechaun vampire emerge form the cuckoo clock. The narrator, down on his luck, strikes a deal with the his new friend where they will both make it in showbiz. As he goes to tell Hooligan, the bartender stabs the tiny vampire through the heart with a toothpick, thinking he was an olive with his red hair and green get-up.<br />
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Pretty good little story. Reads like a long joke with a pretty good punch line at the end.Jacobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12564411584185976957noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095326006979985303.post-24937186564188766282011-12-25T16:27:00.000-08:002012-01-22T14:38:28.459-08:00Controlled Experiment by Rick Conley<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://pavlovsape.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/lab-rat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="143" src="http://pavlovsape.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/lab-rat.jpg" width="175" /></a></div>A scientist resigns his position after he admits to manipulating the results of his experiment on lab rats and their ability to use telekinesis. The story ends with his replacement committing the same scientific malfeasance, being controlled by the rats...<br />
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Nice little story. Great twist in the end.Jacobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12564411584185976957noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095326006979985303.post-33873331690693142942011-12-25T16:13:00.000-08:002012-01-22T14:37:52.678-08:00Climacteric by Avram DavidsonA young man takes his date on a drive up to the mountains and he tells her of his dreams as a child: saving a beautiful girl like herself from dragons. Then he takes her to a path where "no one can see them" and feeds her to his dragon.<br />
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Twisted.Jacobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12564411584185976957noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095326006979985303.post-18823166194508550122011-12-20T20:13:00.000-08:002012-02-06T15:34:04.829-08:00Chalk Talk by Edward WellenAn English professor cannot profess his love for a revival professor until his lecture notes on Chomsky literally leap from the chalk board, run down the hall, and rearrange themselves on the rival's board in a Freudian love note.<br />
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Fantastic flights of fun Freudian fantasy.Jacobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12564411584185976957noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095326006979985303.post-59293891164928644982011-12-20T12:50:00.000-08:002012-02-06T15:33:14.653-08:00Chained by Barry N. Malzberg<a href="http://www.mindspring.com/~jamesthomas/images/fuseli-ghost.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="148" src="http://www.mindspring.com/~jamesthomas/images/fuseli-ghost.jpg" width="194" /></a>First-person account from (The Ghost) King Hamlet's perspective. Quickly recounts the entire play and adds a little including an ill-attempt to warn Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. He is joined by Claudius and others in the afterlife and there are references to Macbeth.<br />
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Superbly humorous tone (Refers to both Ophelia and Gertrude as bitches!). Great treat for Hamlet fans, or any fan of the Bard for that matter. Drops the Elizabethan language and does some plain-prose satire. Great fun.Jacobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12564411584185976957noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095326006979985303.post-11899532340002989562011-12-20T08:52:00.000-08:002012-02-06T15:34:29.981-08:00The Boulevard of Broken Dreams by Harlan ElllisonPatrick Fenton sits at a cafe window and has terrifying visions of dead Nazi war criminals he saw put to death at the Nuremberg trials. He rushes out to the street and tries to confront the ghosts, but they shun him. It is suggested Fenton changed his name, and identity at Ellis Island, hiding his wrong doings during the war. It ends with a "purple glow" surrounding him, and the street becoming night.<br />
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Concise little story about atonement. Great use of the thematic issues of war criminals trying to escape their past, or simply losing the swastika after the war (<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0361748/">Inglourious Basterds</a>! see it). Lots of Nazis tried to change their close after the war to escape the injustices to mankind that they did. This story relates the nightmares they might endure.<br />
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Good Related Films:<br />
<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0361748/">Inglourious Basterds</a><br />
<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1226753/">The Debt</a> (Great little film)<br />
<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074860/">Marathon Man</a> (Classic)<br />
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Have not seen it, but heard it's good: <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118636/">Apt Pupil</a>Jacobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12564411584185976957noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095326006979985303.post-84685409131426911272011-12-20T07:34:00.000-08:002012-02-06T15:32:04.770-08:00At the Bureau by Steve Rasnic Tem<a href="http://www.powderblueorbit.com/BLEAK.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="118" src="http://www.powderblueorbit.com/BLEAK.jpg" width="200" /></a>The story of a fishing permit administrator who becomes obsessed with a shadowy figure that watches him outside of his bleak, lifeless office. He becomes angry and tries to catch the figure in the hall, only to find himself staring in at the man in his office, a shadowy figure himself.<br />
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The ultimate stir-crazy short story. A haunting and methodically paced tale, about the banality of office work and the insanity it can cause.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Jacobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12564411584185976957noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095326006979985303.post-62836062865053611542011-12-19T20:10:00.000-08:002012-02-06T15:31:37.228-08:00Angelica by Jane Yolen<a href="http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/boed_gallery/75078.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/boed_gallery/75078.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 279px; margin: 0 0 10px 10px; width: 200px;" /></a>The story, set in Linz, Austria, 1898, begins with a young boy named Addie, unable to sleep so he takes a walk and slips down a hill and into a river. He is pulled to safety by an Angel-like figure named Angelica, although she explains that is not her real name. She says he can not pronounce her real name: Pistias Sophia, or the angel of wisdom and faith. They converse and then she leads him back to his house- the Hitler home...<br />
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Twisted story about having too much faith in mankind, or maybe simply that it is important for mankind to be tested. Either way, it is a good little read and a great twist in the end.Jacobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12564411584185976957noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095326006979985303.post-78164192526834935622011-12-19T13:33:00.001-08:002012-02-06T15:28:11.886-08:00The Spectacles by Edgar Allan Poe<a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e5/Poe_the_spectacles_byam_shaw.JPG/220px-Poe_the_spectacles_byam_shaw.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e5/Poe_the_spectacles_byam_shaw.JPG/220px-Poe_the_spectacles_byam_shaw.JPG" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 314px; margin: 0 10px 10px 0; width: 220px;" /></a><br />
Via Wikipedia:<br />
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The narrator, 22-year old Napoleon Buonaparte, changes his last name from "Froissart" to "Simpson" as a requirement to inherit a large sum from a distant cousin, Adolphus Simpson. At the opera he sees a beautiful woman in the audience and falls in love instantly. He describes her beauty at length, despite not being able to see her well; he requires spectacles but, in his vanity, "resolutely refused to employ them." His companion identifies the woman as Madame Eugenie Lalande, a wealthy widow, and promises to introduce the two. He courts her and proposes marriage; she makes him promise that, on their wedding night, he will wear his spectacles.<br />
When he puts on the spectacles, he sees that she is a toothless old woman. He expresses horror at her appearance, and even more so when he learns she is 82 years old. She begins a rant about a very foolish descendant of hers, one Napoleon Bonaparte Froissart. He realizes that she is his great-great-grandmother. Madame Lalande, who is also Mrs. Simpson, had come to America to meet her husband's heir. She was accompanied by a much younger relative, Madame Lalande. Whenever the narrator spoke of "Madame Lalande," everyone assumed he meant the younger woman. When the elder Madame Lalande discovered that he had mistaken her for a young woman because of his eyesight, and that he had been openly courting her instead of being civil to a relative, she decided to play a trick on him. The marriage was a fake. He ends by marrying the younger Madame Lalande and vows to "never be met without SPECTACLES."<br />
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One of Poe's comedy tales. Had the author's usual whit and irony. Superbly interesting, yet with the name Poe I was expecting a more sinister end, but a very satisfying one, none the less. Worth a good read.Jacobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12564411584185976957noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095326006979985303.post-58253561901502193342011-12-19T13:24:00.000-08:002012-02-06T16:38:12.502-08:00A Dozen of Everything by Marion Zimmer BradleyMarcie is granted one wish from a Djinn that is freed from an old bottle she received from stingy aunt as a wedding gift. She wishes for a "dozen of everything" so that her and her husband Greg can get started on the right foot. When she gets home, she is welcomed by twelve husbands.<br />
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"Be careful what you wish for."<br />
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More importantly: "Be sure to say what you mean."<br />
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Clever little short.Jacobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12564411584185976957noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095326006979985303.post-7791659187344546672010-05-23T08:49:00.000-07:002012-02-06T16:38:59.952-08:00Three Shots by Ernest HemingwayNick Adams realizes his mortality when singing a hymn in church. While camping with his uncle and father, he is left alone and told to fire three shots if he feels threatened. Alone in a tent and afraid of the dark, Nick sticks his gun out and fires three shots, causing his father and uncle to return from their fishing prematurely.Jacobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12564411584185976957noreply@blogger.com0