Ah, the ol' "flood the market" strategy. Worked so well in the 90s.

I'd just like to take this opportunity to say FUCK DISQUS. That is all.

That reminds me… I still have some of last months comics to read. I should get on that.

I think this guy did some kind of library cop graphic novel too that I thought was generally amusing, but apparently not amusing enough to actually recall the title.

Permission to chuckle darkly?

"lame."

"Stakes feel lower"? What?

It could be happening right now.

I have the laser disc versions on DVD, and this trailer is included on the Star Wars disc. It really is pretty loopy, although I like how the substitute music kind of builds and builds.

You are right.

I was coming off my King period when this book came out. I never read it. I do remember my mom being quietly horrified at the possibility I might read it, and wringing her hands as to who would "explain" it to me.

Salt of the Earth.

My dad handed it to me with what I later realized was a "let's see how far he gets in this piece of crap" look. Not far, it turned out.

The HP Lovecraft Literary Podcast (at hppodcraft.com) is doing another Blochtober, where they review Robert Bloch mythos stories.

That's the one. The writing in it was pretty bad to begin with - they dump a half-dozen characters on the reader at once and expect you to keep track of them - so I skipped to the end to grok their thesis and almost, but not quite, chucked the book at a wall.

"Succinctness" has nothing to do with the genre. Read some Robert E. Howard or Michael Moorcock or Roger Zelazny or Ursula K. LeGuin. They could tell ripping yarns in a quarter of the pages it takes the current masters of bloat to churn out a single volume of their latest mega-epic. Or just read The Hobbit.

It's really quite good, especially for a first novel.

It's paradoxes all the way down.

"Killing the baby" is the American Way. Quickly done, then escape back into the present where everything is much better and no unforeseen consequences could possibly occur.

Yeah, I mean, that's what I'm talking about. Hitler was kind of a charismatic guy who got people worked up, but a shitty manager. His own people tried to kill him a couple of times. And there were lots worse folks working for him, too.