Read 2020 - 24 and 25 - Keep the Giraffe's, Rob

This is a two-piece what I've read post today.

Firstly, I almost read John Sladek's, Keep the Giraffe Burning. What an awful epitaph - I almost read. A wet Saturday afternoon, Storm Dennis, raging outside trying to fight Ciara for the noisiest and rowdiest storm of the year, and I curled up in my favourite chair by the window to read. I didn't have to go out anywhere. I didn't have to do anything. Despite this, my brain didn't fit too well in its skull and refused to make sense of anything I read.

I'd say the problem was 30% the book and 70% me. My mental health was in kick my eyeballs mode. At one point, I think I read a story about cockroaches taking over the world, it's also possible I didn't.

I'm not certain where, when or why I picked up this book. I'm guessing I bought it online as it was pristine (not a charity shop purchase) and priced in dollars.

The other story I read - when my head had cleared a little - was another of Rob Shearman's chapbooks from the forthcoming We all Hear Stories in the Dark. This was chapbook #67 - The Touch of Baby Stalin's Skin. Excellent as always.

Read 2020 - 7 - We All Hear Stories in the Dark #25

Onto my seventh read of 2020.

In April, PS Publishing will be publishing Rob Shearman's 101 stories book We All Hear Stories in the Dark. For last year's Fantasycon, PS produced mini-chapbooks for five of the stories - beautiful wee editions, which I thought I'd missed out on. I wasn't at Fantasycon - woe is my tale. However, PS had some left over (how is this even possible?) and so I was lucky enough to pick up a set just after the convention. When random number generator (going to have to give him a name)... When Dom picked one of the chapbooks as my next read, I was delighted.

Delighted.

And it was delightful.

#25 - Petty Vengeance

Beautifully illustrated, this tale of a writing teacher and a critic, of revenge, grew gradually more and more disturbing, as is often the way with Rob's fiction. Highly recommended.

A delightful five stars.

*

You may note that number six is missing. Can't she count? I hear you declare. Well, not always, but in this instance it's because I only read half of the book. I suspect there will be several unfinished books this year - there often are.