- edgenerous
Daily Short Story Diary - Week 23
Day 155: June 2, 2019
ELIZABETH by Shirley Jackson
The Lottery and Other Stories – 1949
General – 43 Pages
This one’s less about plot and more about a character existing in a situation she’s frustrated with. It’s pretty slow and the character is designed in an unlikeable light. Her looks are failing, her relationship with her business partner is a bust, and a pretty new girl has started in the office. This reads like a warning to move on before it’s too late and the rut you’re in is too deep to climb out of.
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Day 156: June 3, 2019
GREAT LOST DISCOVERIES I by Fredric Brown
Nightmares and Geezenstacks – 1961
Horror – 3 Pages
Doctor discovers a serum of invisibility so he quits his job and sets off to rape a woman who lives in part of the sultan’s harem. Jesus, it even reads like no harm no foul because she’d think it was the sultan since the room was dark. Fucking wild, and a good snapshot of the depth of inequality back when it was written. Gets three stars because it’s kind of funny in that dude gets his comeuppance and Brown wrote well.
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Day 157: June 4, 2019
SUGAR RUSH by William Meikle
Bug Eyed Monsters – 2019
Horror – 20 Pages (about, digital)
A fun story about a taxman going to collect from a rotting sugar plantation. Meikle’s an everyman writer (which I mean as a compliment), which means his stuff is always accessible and easy to slide into. This one’s quick and textured with a follow through partly reminiscent of an Indiana Jones escapade.
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Day 158: June 5, 2019
CINDERS OF A BLIND MAN WHO COULD SEE by Kev Harrison
Cinders of a Blind Man Who Could See – 2019
Horror – 40 Pages (about, digital)
This one’s a take on the pagan ritual horror, think Wicker Man or Harvest Home. There’s a holy a tree and people enjoying the miracles that have sprung from its limbs, but for every miracle, there’s payment needed…dun-dun-duh. It’s got ups and downs, and the last few pages the suspense ratchets up noticeably.
***
Day 159: June 6, 2019
THE VOID IT OFTEN BRINGS WITH IT by Tom Piccirilli
Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine November 2012
Crime – 10 Pages
Hoo boy! That was a fantastic story. A guy in his university course witnesses something that gets him the leg up and he exploits it. It’s told from a cold and nasty point of view with a literary lilt to the prose. The unravelling is perfectly paced and the payoff is great.
*****
Day 160: June 7, 2019
RUNNING OUT OF DOG by Dennis Lehane
Coronado – 2006 (story originally published in Murder and Obsession, 1999)
Crime – 60 Pages (about, digital)
Man, Dennis Lehane can write a story. From the prose to the dialogue to the atmosphere, everything fits. This one unfolds like a tree branch, the path reaching for several possible conclusions. The one that hit, I didn’t see until it was right there. Riveting stuff.
*****
Day 161: June 8, 2019
LOST CAUSE by N.J. Cooper
Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine November 2012
Crime – 3 Pages
Flash doesn’t have a lot of middle ground it seems. Not with crime anyway. There has to be a punch, and while there is a little blow at the end, the rest of the story fails to ratchet any tension. It was unpredictable up to the moment, but that isn’t really enough.
**
Favorite of the week was THE VOID IT OFTEN BRINGS WITH IT by Tom Piccirilli.