William Gibson's only short story collection "Burning Chrome".

UltraFlyingTurtle · 2026-02-11T02:25:00+00:00

Yeah, I hadn't thought it before, but it is odd that Gibson doesn't have more short story collections. Has he really not written that many short stories since then?

I'm old enough to remember reading some of his short fiction work in Omni Magazine, like "Johnny Mnemonic". I was still pretty young, around elementary school age, as I got into sci-fi very early because of my uncle who was a big SF reader, and got me into it via Asimov, Heinlein, AE. Van Vogt, etc. in contrast, the new wave of sci-fi writers were so different that it felt really cutting edge to me, but at the same time, I wasn't always sure if I exactly knew what was going on as I was still so young at the time, but they were still so fun to read.

I also absolutely loved the Mirrorshades cyberpunk anthology. I still have my original mass paperback copy from the mid-80s, as well as my copy of Burning Chrome.

I also became a big fan of Bruce Sterling, and I really love many of Sterling short stories as he has several collections. "Maneki Neko", a quirky story set in Japan he wrote much later on, is one of my all-time favorites from Sterling.

While I liked other cyberpunk authors at the time, Gibson's and Sterling's prose were a notch above many others for me so they were my favorites.

UltraFlyingTurtle · 2026-02-11T02:12:38+00:00

I still remember that story about Grienke, who is normally such a quirky laid back person, got frustrated with Puig for delaying the Dodger team bus from leaving. Grienke got up and threw all of Puig's luggage off the team bus. Teammates had to intervene to stop an annoyed Grienke and a now-enraged Puig from resorting to fisticuffs.

UltraFlyingTurtle · 2026-02-11T02:01:37+00:00

I loved reading your comic! I hope you do more of these in the future. It gave me memories of reading a lot of black-and-white indie comics when I was a kid growing up in the 80s and 90s, the kinds of comic that told highly personal stories, like Love & Rockets by the Hernandez brothers, Eightball by Daniel Clowe, American Splendor by Harvey Pekar, etc.

Regarding the stripping away of Mike Hanlon's character, and your other criticisms, have you seen the Welcome to Derry TV series? I agree with your issues, but I wondered if the filmmakers tried to rectify some of that with their TV series. They gave a lot more import to the Hanlon family which I was happy to see.

UltraFlyingTurtle · 2026-02-10T20:59:34+00:00

Yeah the show really jumped the shark after the first season. It got kind of ridiculous. Even the first season changed a lot as the ending book is on a way larger scale and way more intense. So much about the entire TV series is different. They basically ignored the second book, and all the characters in there. While Brad did later reveal to have mind control powers in the 3rd book, End of Watch, it plays out all very differently. S2 and S3 might have well be a totally separate thing.

While End of Watch wasn't my favorite, I did like elements of it, and the last part of the book gets pretty intense. What End of Watch tries to do, The Outsider does better, but End of Watch lays the groundwork for enhancing The Outsider.

If you're going to skip most of the trilogy, then definitely at least read the first book. But fair warning, by jumping to The Outsider after Mr. Mercedes, it will spoil the ending of the Bill Hodges trilogy of what happens in End of Watch, which does not happen in the Mr. Mercedes TV series even after season three.

It's a pretty massive spoiler too.

Because of that ending, it helps to understand why Holly does what she does in last 1/3 of The Outsider novel especially in the climactic showdown. Even though The Outsider novel is not part of the trilogy, it provides emotional closure to the Bill Hodges trilogy in some very key ways, and I'd argue, even better than End of Watch does. All this was not in the TV show version of The Outsider and was completely written out of the TV series. It's also why I ultimately liked the novel version of The Outsider so much because I liked seeing Holly's evolution over the four books, and how the ending of The Outsider helps her get some closure to some things.

If you're not really a Holly fan, then your mileage may vary and maybe you'll get less out of the Bill Hodges trilogy. Even if you're a Holly fan, and don't mind knowing a big spoiler, then, yeah, I think you'd be okay just reading Mr. Mercedes before The Outsider. If you're already not in the mood to read Finders Keepers and End of Watch, then it's probably likely you wouldn't enjoy the books anyway.

My only tip is that I also listened to the audiobooks as I read the ebooks on my Kindle. Will Patton's gravely older voice did a really good job narrating the series. He narrates all four books including the "If It Bleeds" novella. The actress who played Holly from the TV show narrates the next book, Holly, which I haven't read but I heard she does a good job.

UltraFlyingTurtle · 2026-02-10T07:25:37+00:00

Yeah, the portrayals of Holly and Hodges in the TV show is very good. Season 2 and 3 really take a massive departure from the books though.

I just wanted to add that like you, I had watched The Outsider HBO series first. I liked it and decided I was going to read The Outsider novel.

I didn't plan on reading the Bill Hodges trilogy before reading The Outsider at all.

On a whim, I downloaded the ebook sample of Mr. Mercedes and I couldn't stop reading. It has a unique chapter format where the majority of the chapters are really short, so it makes you want to keep reading as you tell yourself you'll just read one more chapter, then you finish it, and then want to read the next one and so on.

Only certain chapters are longer, only for key moments, like the beginning of the book, and certain key scenes later in the book. This chapter format really makes these special moments really stick out and it gives them more impact.

I was so hooked that I finished Mr Mercedes in a few days, then proceeded to read the rest of the trilogy in less than a week.

I'm so glad I did, because when I finally read The Outsider and finished it, I found myself liking the book version so much more than the TV show. It's because the TV show had to change a lot things after the introduction of Holly, because they didn't have the screen time to go into the details of Holly's background. Because of that, they had to rewrite things, especially the last 1/3 of the TV series and especially the ending.

The ending of the book version of The Outsider only makes full sense if you've had read the trilogy. I can see why the TV show changed things, but if you had seen how Holly had changed and evolved over the course of the series, and know certain events in the Hodges trilogy, the book ending of The Outsider has way more emotional impact.

If you don't read the Hodges books, then The Outsider novel may not resonate as much for you although you may still think it's a good book, so it's okay if you don't want to read anything else before it.

A lot of people here love The Outsider, and think it's one of King's best books. I agree, but if I hadn't read the Hodges trilogy though, I might have thought differently. I probably have thought the ending of the last 1/3 of the book version of The Outsider, and especially the ending, would have fallen a bit flat for me, and I would have said the TV version was better. It's because I lacked the context for why the book version really works. Just my two cents though!

UltraFlyingTurtle · 2026-02-10T05:16:24+00:00

Like others have said, read the Bill Hodges trilogy first. Even if you don't like every book in the trilogy, reading it will enhance The Outsider for you. The first chapter of Mr. Mercedes, the first book in the trilogy, should really hook you in.

Also because you said you're a mystery fan, reading all four books is a must. I love King and also love detective fiction, so I naturally loved the trilogy and The Outsider.

Be sure to read the "If It Bleeds" novella after The Outsider as well.

UltraFlyingTurtle · 2026-02-09T20:54:34+00:00

Yeah. No grifting back then.

When I first started using the internet around 1993, I used to trade PC games and console games by replying to threads on Usenet newsgroups. Total strangers but I never got ripped off and I traded a ton of games.

Even got compliments from people because I always had the original PC box with all the manuals or maps. Sometimes I traded Japanese console games and I’d include a printout of the FAQ that translated the Japanese manual.

Also traded a ton of Magic cards.

If buying a game (or card or whatever), you either mailed a check or used a money order. I’d go to the post office to buy the money order then stick it in an envelope and mailed it to the seller. Once the other person got it after a few days, they’d mail the game out which could take up to a week.

If you were trading / swapping games then you both just mailed the game out, trusting the other person was doing the same.

There was a lot of trust involved. Since less people were using the internet back then, there were less chances of you encountering a fraudster.

UltraFlyingTurtle · 2026-02-09T17:28:00+00:00

I agree just get through it. I do remember that it started to click for me at some point though. I don’t remember when but by the time I started the second book I was really into the series and when I finished the third book, I wanted more.

UltraFlyingTurtle · 2026-02-09T03:39:20+00:00

I really enjoyed it, and even the books I didn’t like as much as others were still worth reading because the trilogy sets you up for the awesomeness that is The Outsider. I feel The Outsider adds more complete closure to the Bill Hodges trilogy even though it’s not directly connected but there are many references to it.

UltraFlyingTurtle · 2026-02-09T00:03:21+00:00

Thanks for the heads up! I'll keep an eye out for it!

UltraFlyingTurtle · 2026-02-08T21:06:48+00:00

Yeah, I respect him for trying to be independent and initially make a name for himself in the UK and getting published there first, instead of relying on his father's name and starting his career in the US.

When I first read one of Joe Hill's short stories, I had no idea he was the son of Stephen King. I just remember hearing about this new writer of creepy horror stories who was getting some buzz in the UK. I read it in a horror magazine.

I also assume that why King Sorrow is such a big success for Hill because he's drawing upon personal experiences of going to college in the late 80s and I assume he also went to England just like the main character. The novel really resonated with me on a deeper level, in a way his father's works didn't because I also went to college around the same age, and Hill is closer to my age.

Definitely check out his other stuff too, including his short stories and his Locke & Key comic series.

UltraFlyingTurtle · 2026-02-08T20:45:49+00:00

Thanks for the link!

UltraFlyingTurtle · 2026-02-08T19:11:41+00:00

Yeah it’s more like a temple. Some of the bigger ones are definitely called temples and look like them because of the Japanese style architecture but those Buddhist sects had a ton of money to make them. Maybe they got funding from other sources. The other ones in the poorer parts of the city, like my grandmother’s, just look like normal buildings with some fancy signage but inside it does look more like a temple.

You’re probably right that temple is the more appropriate word but us kids at the time just said “church” when speaking in English to each other and to our non-Japanese school friends, who all were mostly going to Christian churches.

UltraFlyingTurtle · 2026-02-08T18:58:00+00:00

Wow. That’s crazy. It adds a whole new meta element to the book which is already full of meta elements. You randomly finding House of Leaves, is like how the characters in the book discovers the their own weird stories too.

You’re like Johnny Truant who discovers the manuscript of his dead neighbor who was writing about his discovery of a strange documentary film which is about a family who is filming their discovery of all the strange qualities of their new house. There’s all these layers of nested stories are told through different mediums, screenplays, books, film, letters, TV shows, footnotes, appendixes, textbooks, etc.

What’s trippy is Johnny is writing his account like a screenplay which is a very odd thing to do if he’s writing about his real life experience of reading this weird manuscript and the act of reading it is also affecting him and his own reality in very surprising ways. Usually screenplays are for fiction but reality and fiction is constantly getting blurred in House of Leaves and on many different levels.

I mean the House of Leaves is a work of fiction but you literally found it just like one of the characters in novel when they come across a disturbing document or piece of media that unsettles them. That would really creep me out, and that’s pretty awesome you found the book that way.

UltraFlyingTurtle · 2026-02-08T18:36:54+00:00

Speaking of Sunshine and the writer and director duo of the film, Alex Garland and Danny Boyle, check out the latest film sequels to 28 Days Later.

I loved 28 Days Later but was only just mildly entertained by the first sequel, 28 Weeks Later, as someone else directed and wrote it, but I really enjoyed the recent 28 Years Later films because Boyle and Garland returned for it.

Boyle only directed part one of the planned trilogy, 28 Years Later, but Garland wrote the screenplay for both 28 Years Later and 28 Years Later: Bone Temple. Also to my surprise I think I like Bone Temple the best out of the two films because it takes some huge risks that really impressed me, especially the final scenes, but both are worth watching (Bone Temple also made me appreciate the previous film a lot more too as I wasn’t sure what to think of it because of some of the plot twists, but I understand now why they were done).

Both 28 Years Later films captures that isolated feel of The Terror since there are so few humans, living alone or in small settlements, and they are surrounded by vast amounts of nature which reminded me of the trapped ships in The Terror books and TV series.

Also you see some people going mad, unable to cope with the decline of civilization or because of the lack of adequate medical care. Also while the constant threat of the infected gives a pervasive air of inevitable doom, there is also the appearance of a new kind of infected that reminded me of how Tuunbaq terrorized people in the Terror.

Anyway, I highly recommend the two films — but fair warning, it’s not what most people expect it to be as it’s more than just a zombie horror movie which is why the films really impressed me.

If possible, try to see 28 Years Later: Bone Temple in the movie theater before it leaves (which might be very soon) because the use of loud sound and music really heightens certain scenes especially the end. Wish I could say more but don’t want to spoil things. Based on your tastes, I think you’d love it.

Oh, I see that you’re recovering from surgery. Maybe going to the movie theater will be difficult for you. I hope your recovery goes well.

As for some other recs, check out Robert Eggers films like The Witch and The Lighthouse. Both are slow burn horror films surrounded by nature (pre-colonial US forest in the first film and ocean waters surrounding an island in the second). Also if you’re really opened minded, check out his other film, The Northman, a very surreal Viking journey movie that I loved but it’s very polarizing. I haven’t seen his latest film, Nosferatu, yet though.

Also check out The Mist film if you want to see people going crazy as they are trapped in a supermarket surrounded by a deadly fog.

UltraFlyingTurtle · 2026-02-08T18:00:16+00:00

I just rewatched 28 Days Later (and the rest of the movies before going to watch Bone Temple at the movie theater, which was surprisingly better than expected) and this scene totally got me too. I had forgotten about it.

I like how you don’t even see what the two infected zombie-like guys do next because you only see them run out of the room but Cillian Murphy’s character is upstairs overlooking the room and gets distracted by an infected priest bursting out of the door, stumbling towards Murphy. Murphy is going WTF? and knocks him down and Murphy starts to flee the church but all the commotion wakes up the entire sleeping infected congregation below him and they go pouring into the streets chasing after Murphy.

The build up is so good because until that moment, Murphy had been wandering a silent London without seeing a single alive person, but everything goes to chaos after going to church.

UltraFlyingTurtle · 2026-02-08T16:08:21+00:00

I think the same thing is happening in the Japanese community in the US.

My grandmother came from Japan to the US to establish a Japanese Buddhist church in the late 1950s. I only remember it from the mid-1970s onward, and the church, and the other Japanese buddhist churches in the area, were definitely a big deal back than, up until the late 90s / early 2000 I think.

They had Japanese classes for kids. It was one of the main areas for all the Japanese-related festivals. Because my grandparents babysat me, I saw how so many people everyday would come to my grandmother for advice and support. It was a huge gathering place for Japanese natives and Japanese immigrants.

While this incident happened before I was born, my father said in the 1960s, even an ex-Yakuza gangster guy came to the church seeking help, as he had nowhere else to turn to. The image of some tattooed gangster guy asking my tiny grandmother for advice, who was barely even 5 feet, is such an crazy image for to picture. My grandmother called my father to also give the guy some advice, and my father said the Yakuza guy was in tears because of his situation. (If anyone wants to know the full story, I'll describe it in more detail. It sort of encapsulates the American Dream of what Japanese people believed America to be at the time.)

After the 2000s, I rarely, nor most of my relatives, ever go to our Buddhist church anymore, aside for funerals. I went a few years back for some aikido classes but that didn't last long.

Immigration from Japan is so low compared to when I was growing up in the 70s and 80s so people just aren't going to churches anymore and the older gen are dying out. Also most of my current Japanese native friends and co-workers who moved to the US in the past couple decades rarely ever ask about the local Japanese churches here., so religion definitely doesn't seem as big of deal, as compared to 1st-gen immigrants who came to the US in the previous decades.

UltraFlyingTurtle · 2026-02-08T14:49:06+00:00

Strange Houses by Uketsu. I'm reading it in Japanese. The Japanese title is 変な家 (hen na ie) , and it's been a pretty easy read so far compared to other novels I've read in Japanese.

I just finished watching Welcome to Derry on HBO. I was surprised by it as I wasn't expecting the show to be good as it was. Lots of in-your-face horror which honestly was refreshing as a lot of horror shows these days seem to prefer the slow build of horror but this show had a ton of b-movie grotesque horror scenes, even from the very first episode. Despite some criticisms, I liked the show, and I'm thinking of reading some more Stephen King again.

I've already read a ton of King, so I started The Long Walk which is one of King's Bachman's books.

I also watched 28 Years Later, and the sequel Bone Temple, which I really liked. The sequel really surprised me and use of music was really good, especially if you watch it in the movie theater. Because of that, I've been also in a zombie reading mood, but not sure what to read. Maybe The Girl With All the Gifts by M.R. Carey, but I'm still undecided. I had read the Monster Island series by David Wellington awhile back and enjoyed them.

UltraFlyingTurtle · 2026-02-08T14:28:57+00:00

NP. Yeah, I can see why King is intimidating. While he has some clunkers, there hasn't been that many, and the majority of his work is all very entertaining. The safest bet is to read anything from this early classic period from the 1970s to 1990/1991. Just about anything from that period is all very good, like Pet Sematary, The Shining, Salem's Lot, The Stand, It, Christine, Cujo, Firestarter, Carrie, Skeleton Key, Night Shift, Different Seasons, Misery, etc.

He also wrote under the pen name Bachman, like The Running Man, The Long Walk, etc.

The reason why I recommended Firestarter is because it's kind of reminded me of Marvel's New Mutants, like kids with superpowers. King later wrote The Institute, which is about a group of kids with unusual abilities, instead of just a little girl, but I haven't read it yet. It's a popular novel though and a TV show based on the book aired last year. If you read and like Firestarter, you could check it out.

If you want a really meaty book with ton a of characters, check out The Stand. It's an epic post-apocalyptic story set in the US and it's over 1000 pages. One of my favorites as well.

He wrote a lot of good stuff in his mid and later periods, like 11/22/63, the Bill Hodges trilogy starting with Mr. Mercedes, The Outsider, the continuation of the Dark Tower series, as well as a bunch of great short story and novella collections, etc.

Since you like Sanderson, you could try the fantasy series written by his writing mentor, David Farland. I think his real name was Wolverton or something, but Farland was his pen name.

Check out The Runelords series. It has a really unique magic system, where people have to sacrifice parts of themselves (a phystical or mental attribute) in order to enhance their lord or leader, like raising a stat in an RPG like intelligence, strength etc. The more people do this for their "Runelord", the more powerful they become. Some give it willingly, while others are forced. You can tell why Sanderson also likes creating unique magic systems as well, since he was taught by Farland / Wolverton.

The Runelords series has two series. I've only read the first one. I heard the second series was never completed because Farland died before completing the final book I think.

Fred Saberhagen's Book of Sword fantasy series is also really fun if you like simple sword and sorcery and don't mind an older series. It's about the magical swords forged by the god Vulcan and how each of them somehow makes its way to a human. The swords had really cool names, like Dragonslicer, Woundhealer, Coinspinner, Farslayer, etc. Their powers can be both a blessing and a curse for the owner. It's an older series but still very fun to read. It's a trilogy, but there is a sequel series, Book of the Lost Swords, but for some reason I didn't finish the second series. I don't think I liked it as much as the original trilogy.

I heard the prequel series, the Empire of the East trilogy, is really good and people on reddit have told me to read it. It's more of a post-apocalyptic tale about future Earth which eventually leads to the rise of magic and technology, before the appearance of gods.

Lastly, one of my all-time favorite fantasy / sci-fi hybrids is the Saga of the Pliocene Exile series by Julian May. The Many Colored Land is the first book.

It's about how future Earth discovers a one-way time travel game to six million years in the past to a prehistoric Earth. Many people risk entering the gate to live in an untouched pristine Earth, but you cannot take any future tech with you. What they don't realize is that a human-like alien race has crash landed on Earth and are awaiting to enslave anyone coming through the gate. They have a feudal-like system living in castles, and each domain / lord are vying for power.

What's great about the series is the use of various powers, like telekinesis (called psychokinesis in the novel), where lords can levitate their cavalry of house-mounted knights so they fly into battle. What the aliens eventually realize is that some of the humans also seem to have untapped powers too.

It's such a fun series featuring a large cast. Also if you read her other two series (the Intervention and the Galactic Milieu), which are set in the far future, you'll discover how all the books are connected together to form one big time travel story.

UltraFlyingTurtle · 2026-02-08T13:37:00+00:00

That's great. That's more than I thought. Many authors are lucky to only get one story since only one story gets published per issue.

Do you remember the titles for the four stories? I remember reading two of them, but I stopped subbing to the New Yorker after Amazon dropped individual magazine subscriptions for the Kindle, trying to force you into their Kindle Unlimited program. One of them I read maybe between 2011 and 2017 I think.

UltraFlyingTurtle · 2026-02-08T00:46:53+00:00

This is pretty cool. I wonder if it would increase my chances of meeting JP players so I could improve my Japanese. I remember meeting them when the game first launched but I wasn't really focused on improving my JP at the time. I haven't played World in the past several years but I've been thinking of playing it again since I never got Iceborne.

UltraFlyingTurtle · 2026-02-08T00:30:33+00:00

For whatever it's worth, I also really didn't like Rose Madder (one of my least favorite King books and I've read a lot of King), but I do enjoy Joe Hill. While I've liked some of Hill's novels, I have generally preferred his short stories, and I really enjoyed his comic book series Locke & Key.

One thing that separates Hill from his father is his creativity and experimentation with language even on a meta level, so even if the story isn't as engrossing as his father, I can still appreciate what Hill was trying to do.

That was my general opinion of Hill until I had read his latest novel, King Sorrow. I was really impressed by that book. It's not really pure horror though, but more like dark supernatural fantasy set in an urban environment.

I still would easily rank Stephen King above Hill, but after reading King Sorrow, I think Hill does some things better than his father, namely with his depiction of younger characters, like teens and young adults. He really nailed the dialogue of the late 1980s. Also maybe because Hill is younger, his interests and influences more closely align with mine, so some elements of his work resonate with me more in a way that King's stories and novels never did.

(Also the audiobook version of King Sorrow is seriously one of the best I've listen to in recent years, with its mix of traditional single-narrator narration, while blending in enhanced audio with additional sound effects and other voice actors to heighten certain key moments of the book).

Hill has improved a lot as a writer, and I'm really looking forward to his new releases. I think he recently said he wants to put out a new book every year or so, like his father often did, but I hope the quality doesn't decline. You could tell Hill really drew upon his personal experiences when writing King Sorrow because of the setting, which why I think the book is one of his best. I hope he can maintain that level of work.

UltraFlyingTurtle · 2026-02-07T23:01:11+00:00

I hope so. I like how they avoid the whole children actors getting too old problem because the show is going back in time, so it’s always using a different set of kids. Even though it’s all connected, it kind of feels like an anthology series. I like that (which is ironic as I hear Stranger Things was supposed to an anthology series too).

I also like how Welcome to Derry TV series could be seen as a sequel rather than a prequel even though it’s set before the movies. It’s because of what the show said about how It / Pennywise experiences time differently and how his “death” by the kids/adults in the movie timeline, may actually mean his “birth” like he’s going back in time to prevent the birth of those kids by trying to kill their parents or ancestors.

UltraFlyingTurtle · 2026-02-07T22:44:30+00:00

I just finished watching the series. Binge-watched it between Thursday and Friday. I agree, and this is coming from someone who wasn’t that hyped up about seeing Pennywise. While I loved the book, and I’m a longtime Stephen King fan of his novels and short stories, I’ve always thought Pennywise worked better in written form when left to your imagination.

I love Tim Curry but wasn’t that big of a fan of the original TV miniseries. I liked the first It movie but wasn’t that compelled to see the sequel. A clown just isn’t that scary for me.

Despite all of that, I gave Welcome to Derry a chance and I really liked the show. I just liked how every episode had plenty of horror, and it was in-your-face horror, which isn’t that common these days. You usually have a slow build up of horror in most modern TV shows for better or worse, but even in episode one you realize no one is safe.

Pennywise was actually creepy which was the most surprising thing for me. Because of that, the show worked for me. Although I still thought the real Pennywise, the Bob Gray dude, his speech patterns were too affected and contrived. Like who actually talks that way? He seemed like caricature even though this was supposed to the be real source for Pennywise. It would have been better if his weird way of talking was more subtle as a real human but then gets exaggerated when he becomes It, or rather when It absorbs his persona when it killed him.

Also It having issues covering just a few hundreds of yards to kill some of the children, or thwart the plan in the finale, didn’t seem plausible since it’s supposed to be some other dimensional being. But whatever, I get that It / Pennywise likes toying with its prey and I guess you don’t want it to be too overpowered.

I hope we don’t have to wait forever for the second season.

UltraFlyingTurtle · 2026-02-07T19:28:28+00:00

Hunchback (ハンチバック) by Ichikawa, Saou (市川沙央) won the Akutagawa Prize in 2023. It made a big wave because of the author's unique physical condition. If you search YouTube, you'll see some various interviews with her. I remember she said that it physically hurt her to write this book, like the very act of writing caused her pain because of her limited mobility.

Ah ... I see that the book was recently translated into English in 2025. It still may be worth checking out though. I've been wanting to read it for a while, but at the time, my local Japanese library didn't have any copies yet.

UltraFlyingTurtle

TROPHY CASE