Tag Archives: horror

Of British invasions and medieval haunts

Posted on April 10, 2023 by smellincoffee

As a followup to Hitler’s Armada, I read Frank McLynn’s Invasion from the Armada to Hitler, a history of planned attempts to invade the British isles, and has an interesting mixture of deep background and absurd simplification.  McLynn begins by … Continue reading →

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Germans: terror and tedium

Posted on November 9, 2021 by smellincoffee

In the past week I’ve read or mostly-read, in the case of The Vampire Economy, two books with a German connection. The first, The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, was by far the most interesting of the two. I read this … Continue reading →

Posted in Classics and Literary, General, Reviews | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

Natchez Burning

Posted on October 18, 2021 by smellincoffee

Natchez Burning© 2015 Greg Iles816 pages When the choice is your father or the truth,  who could choose the truth?  Penn Cage has always idolized his father Tom.  A dedicated physician from the 1950s-on,  the senior Cage developed a reputation as a devoted and impartial … Continue reading →

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Needful Things

Posted on October 13, 2019 by smellincoffee

Needful Things © 1992 Stephen King 940 pages A new shop has come to Castle Rock, one with a curious name: NEEDFUL THINGS. Its wares appear to run the gamut from cheap antiques to one-of-a-kind oddities. Even in a small … Continue reading →

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The Shining

Posted on October 15, 2018 by smellincoffee

The Shining© 1977 Stephen King447 pages A recovering alcoholic and recently fired schoolteacher has taken a short-term gig as the winter caretaker of a luxury hotel nestled in the Colorado mountains.  The hotel is forced to close for the season … Continue reading →

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Frankenstein

Posted on October 9, 2018 by smellincoffee

Frankenstein: The Modern Prometheus© 1818 Mary Shelley288 pages “Shall I respect man when he contemns me? Let him live with me in the interchange of kindness; and, instead of injury, I would bestow every benefit upon him with tears of … Continue reading →

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Dracula

Posted on October 2, 2017 by smellincoffee

Dracula© 1897 Bram Stoker416 pages Every attorney has problematic clients,  but few can claim an actual monster. Such is the case with Count Dracula, as  young lawyer Jonathan Hawker discovers to his dismay and horror when he arrives at the … Continue reading →

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World War Z

Posted on October 14, 2016 by smellincoffee

World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War© 2006 Max Brooks352 pages Reading Night of the Living Trekkies put me in the mood for more weird fiction, and World War Z fits the bill!  Fictional, but not a … Continue reading →

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Night of the Living Trekkies

Posted on October 8, 2016 by smellincoffee

Night of the Living Trekkies© 2010 Kevin David Anderson256 pages Braaaains and braaaains, what is braaaaiiins?! Oh, reader, good times ahead.  When Jim Pike returned from Afghanistan as a psychologically scarred veteran, the last thing he wanted was responsibility. That’s … Continue reading →

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Sphere

Posted on May 7, 2016 by smellincoffee

Sphere© 1987 Michael Crichton385 pages  Norman Thomas is accustomed to government officials asking for his assistance to counsel survivors at plane crashes, but traveling fifteen hours into the middle of the Pacific is a first.   Upon arrival, John finds … Continue reading →

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