“Aimee watched the sky, quietly. Tonight was one of those motionless hot summer nights. The concrete pier empty, the strung red, white, yellow bulbs burning like insects in the air above the wooden emptiness. The managers of the various carnival pitches stood, like melting wax dummies, eyes staring blindly, not talking, all down the line.” The opening story and a few of moments of the introductory material for this collection tell you a bit of where we’re headed. In general, these are listed as “macabre” […]

I did it! I completed reading the book that had been on my Goodreads “Want to Read” list longest. I don’t really remember adding Dandelion Wine on June 14, 2010. I added that along with 32 other books in a liking frenzy. (See my full list from that day at the bottom.) I probably was reading a list of books to make sure you’ve read by the time you were 45. I’ve only read 4 of them, but I’ve read Good Omens twice. Let’s call […]

“It was a warm afternoon when I first met the illustrated man.” This is a collection of short stories by Ray Bradbury first published in 1951. I think, but I am not sure, that many of the stories here were kind of scurf or detritus from his early years, looking for a home. So the packaging them together here gave them a way to live in a collection that might otherwise not work to celebrate their individual status, especially the ones that feel especially old. […]