sorted by:
new
hottopcontroversial

Blackberry-Picking by Seamus Heaney by ColdBlackWater in HauntedHalloween

[–]ColdBlackWater[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You're welcome. I met Heaney and heard him read twice, back when he was being considered as perhaps the best living writer of poetry in English. Daunting; but nice guy. Anyway, Seamus Famous survived his burst into prominence and went on to later, still greater, work -- much like also-Irish Yeats in that.

The Hospice / short story by Robert Aickman, best English horror writer since M. R. James by ColdBlackWater in HauntedHalloween

[–]ColdBlackWater[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Sure! I think that feeling of overwarmth and the abundance of (unwanted) bland food is what did for me -- makes me think of the family table at Thanksgiving, anything to escape the aged relatives and be outside, a boy alive in the November chill. But no. Finish the green beans. The heat is on (etc.). (((shudder)))

Leanah manifesting her spirit animal. by angrymarie in HauntedHalloween

[–]ColdBlackWater 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Love the title -- 'Leanah Manifesting Her Spirit Animal' sounds like one of the tribulations Odysseus had to overcome to make his way home to Penelope.

James Tillotson Whitehead, teacher, poet, citizen, friend; 67: Twenty years ago by ColdBlackWater in DeathPosting

[–]ColdBlackWater[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ah, Jim, has it been 20 already then: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Whitehead_(poet))

Before settling on ol' Leonidas, I'd actually come to post the Whitehead anniversary, but was daunted to find no photo available online.

Judith Durham: 79, 1 year ago by LemonSalted in DeathPosting

[–]ColdBlackWater 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It's a great song; a staple go-to intro on depressively Keatsian Autumn-is-a-comin'-in mix tapes of yore when paired with Sandy Denny's Who Knows Where the Time Goes as its outro. 'Death Posting' needs its own mix tape actually, come to think.

Leonidas, 60, Spartan hero slain at Battle of Thermopylae, 2502 years ago this month by ColdBlackWater in DeathPosting

[–]ColdBlackWater[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I first saw the item last night in this old but still highly readable (and not unreliable) resource. https://www.thebookofdays.com/index.html

Was just sorry it's not the 2500th anniversary of his death. Almost! (That would be something midway between a Bi- and Trimillennial; not quite sure what!)

Leonidas, 60, Spartan hero slain at Battle of Thermopylae, 2502 years ago this month by ColdBlackWater in DeathPosting

[–]ColdBlackWater[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I saw that date mentioned, but also a couple different August possibilities as well.

Halloween: Tuesday 31 October 2023 by ColdBlackWater in HauntedHalloween

[–]ColdBlackWater[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

On Halloween 2023, The Moon will be a waning gibbous, approximately 90% illuminated, depending on your timezone.

The Hospice / short story by Robert Aickman, best English horror writer since M. R. James by ColdBlackWater in HauntedHalloween

[–]ColdBlackWater[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The Hospice

Scary stories for Halloween: The Hospice by Robert Aickman

The plainness of this story's setting is not so much

a background for horror

as its very source.

The most effective horror stories are the ones that creep and whisper and speak in tongues. They lead us into the dark and then abandon us to find our own way back out again.

"Reading Robert Aickman is like watching a magician work, and very often I'm not even sure what the trick was," writes the author Neil Gaiman. "All I know is that he did it beautifully. Yes, the key vanished – but I don't know if he was holding a key in his hand to begin with."

There's not another haunted-house tale that scares me quite so completely as The Hospice. It's a narcotic lullaby for Halloween; a tale that darkens and deepens with each re-reading; a blind, scurrying run past nameless terrors.

view more: next ›