Month: August 2003

1. What is the world’s smallest continent?

2. What is the word for the smallest unit of data which a computer can handle?

3. Which is the smallest state of the United States?

4. What phrase is used for a grand piano of the smallest size?

5. What is the word for the smallest number of members of a committee which must be present before a meeting can be held?

6. What is the world’s smallest ocean?

7. What is the word for the smallest element of the image displayed on a computer or TV screen?

8. “MLD” is an abbreviation in medicine for the smallest quantity of what? What does “MLD” stand for?

9. What is the world’s smallest republic?

10. In linguistics, what is the word for the smallest unit of meaning in a language?

To anyone who is reading this who is not my ex-roomate, you can skip it, because it doesn’t really have much other than a lot of rambling in it, that won’t make too much difference to anyone not physically in the situation I have found myself in. If you insist on wasting your time, you do so forwarned – it certainly don’t concern you. It is going on my journal because that appears to be everyone’s forum of choice in dealing with these matters of late, which, I don’t see as a half bad idea.

There will be no more posts like this in the future.


Concerning your comments on this post.

I have waited some time so I did not knee-jerk respond to what you had to say. I gather it doesn’t make too much difference, as you don’t have internet access.

I’m not sure where you get off going apeshit. Richelle really tried to be your freind, to like you for who you are, and that didn’t work. Maybe it was the incessant negativity – maybe it was the fact that your concept of cleanliness and roomate responsibility were far below what she, or I, consider complimentary for a living situation. She tried to help you out in times of need, even going so far as to divulge sensitive personal information in response to a panic in your life, which had nothing to do with her. She and I both stuck up for you when your scruples were under the highest of scrutiny, despite the fact that we had to lie to others to do so. Sure, you would have done the same for me, but I don’t know about Richelle. You pitched in around the apartment, you did dishes now and then, and took down the garbage now and then. You put up with Marley and his idiosynchrisies, and the fact that after a point, the living room became much less of a communal space after 11pm than it was when we first moved in. You were not 100% neglegent as a housemante, except in the insect problem department, which was not even an issue for Richelle and I until VERY recently. Richelle spent MONTHS putting up with not only things she couldn’t contend with in your personaliy, but also guff from other people who know both you and she, about your negative aspects. It is something I have done for so long, I barely think about it anymore – to her, it was not the same.

Richelle is not claiming faultlessness or perfection as a roomate. She is venting. She has a right to do that. The fact that she choses to do it on Livejournal, rather than in person is a better thing for all involved, IMO. Suck it up and deal. It is certainly not the first, and probably not the last time someone will rant about being in close quarters with you for extended periods of time. She has made it very clear about how she feels about you. I can’t say I completely understand why you persit in keeping her on your “friends” page. Clearly, she is not a friend. You are like the statistic about Howard Stern – the average listener lsitens 45 mins a day, the average Stern hater averages an hour and a half. What the fuck is the point?

Even after trying to like you didn’t work out, Richelle tried to keep things civil, and not cause friction. She avoided you as much as possible, and kept to herself. Its not her problem that you have a tough time not constantly insulting someone when you feel slighted, or asserting your correctness on any topic. You are aware of your ability to irritate and anger people – it was something you relished at one point in your life, and I feel a part of you has never truly moved beyond that. Part of you is just plain oblivious about it too, at least I hope I’m not wrong about that, or I fear my judgement is to be seriously questioned for the future. I have, for whatever reasons, a lot thicker skin than anyone else you’ve ever interacted with in that regard – Richelle didn’t. It was a risk, one which we discussed and all parties were forewarned about.

To the best of my knowledge, Richelle never insulted Danielle. She did, however, make quite a number of comments about living with you, and dealing with the aftermath of what ultimately, no matter what you have to say or think about it, is a disaster of your making. She has since posted her opinions on those comments – I leave her to explain her own feelings.

As to your monetary situation, I have very little compassion.

You are an incredibly frugal person – when it comes to certain things. I don’t even want to guess how much you have spent on LARP donations and LARP related expenses since we lived together. You shouldered some unfortunate expenses of late, but so did we, and the cause of them, directly in our case, was you.

Your car, which was a big investment, and which you have the gall to use as some sort of shield to your financial situation, was a loan from your dad. In your own words, you haven’t started paying it back yet even! Don’t cry over soemthing you got for free, even when it breaks. If you were smart, you would have taken that car to the dealer for a trade in as soon as you got possesion, and gotten something new with a warantee and better mileage, but worth a little less. I’m still ffing paying for a car I can’t even legally drive, and I don’t have the option of calling them and saying “things are a little tight right now, I’ll get ya next month”. The fact that your insurance comapny is being tightfisted and inept is no suprise – that is thier job, to keep thier money as long as possible.

You having to pay for your move is an unfortunate side effect of scheduling. I did say I would help you, and feel bad that I was unable to, but, all things being equal in hindsight, I don’t feel as bad about it anymore. The fact that you had to work “the whole weekend” I made avaialble to help, despite the fact that you made the schedules at your job, AND spent two days at a LARP mini-con BEFORE you went on your work training thing is NOT my problem. The fact that they gave you very limited breaks while away, in which to make reservations, likewise, is not my problem. Perhaps a phonecall instead of DDR might have saved you some dough.

I told you from the getgo how hard bedbugs were to get rid of. When you were still living in Yonkers. I shot you some links, even discussed alternatives. The data is very specific – pesticide everything to kill the living ones, then steam clean everything to kill eggs, and get rid of the poison. Every surface of every part of your room needs to be dealt both of these steps. Then launder everything fabric you have, and keep things spotless for 4-6 weeks to make sure there is not another outbreak. I have tried to stick to that as tightly as possible – barring possible future contamination from your recently vacated space. It will be months of worry before I know wether or not my precautions were adequite. I hope, for your sake, that they are – and, for your new roomates’ sake that you ahve managed to ditch your problem that started all this.

In short, the fact that you have no bed is your own fault. I know for a fact that you have not done all these things.

At one point or another you did take one or more of the suggested steps, but never all of them in concert. You had a waterbed after you moved, which would have made dcealing with this all the easier, since they had no fabric to infest. It would have involved you draining your bed, taking it entirely apart, along with your dresser, and spending two or more days doing nothing but cleaning from sunup to sundown. Since you don’t work on a 9-5 m/f, you could have responded even faster than Richelle and I did when I discovered our infestation.

You did not.

I fought for you dammit, against my own doubts and worries, and paid for it, dearly. Now I sit and read that you don’t think Richelle is deserving of an apology? Where precisely does that concept come from? It is my lingering attachent to some of the hopes I have about you as a person which is preventing her from taking you to COURT to get your wages garnered to pay for all our shit. Christ man, don’t make it worse by throwing gas on a fire you started. Richelle was content to just let things slide until we founf out that we were beset by vermin.

I’d like to know what problems you have you DO blame on Richelle. Aside from us moving on earlier than I thought we would have to, I can’t think of a goddamn thing. You were very understanding when I explained the situation about her coming to NY to be with me. You accepted Marley, and his frequent messes, with a stoicism I apprecaite dearly. I was VERY specific about how things were going to play between she and I though, if all worked out, and what my best case/worst case was, and you were willing to accept that. I moved in to the house in Mt. Vernon for precisely two reasons, in this order:

1. I wanted to live someplace big enough that Richelle and myself could survive if our romantic relationship didn’t work out, without either of us being in each other’s hair, or homeless. This apartment was perfect for that., If things hadn’t have worked out, I would have just moved into the geek room. Pesimistic pragmatism which has since proved irrelivant, but it was the safest thing IMO at the time.

2.I had a sense of obligation to you because you and I had spoken about it previously, before the situation with Richelle was a possibility/reality. I could have just as easily dropped the whole thing and stayed on central – my exposure would have been very limited – so I opted not to leave you in the lurch. Even after Richelle stated, rather clearly, that she was not happy living with you, I stuck to my sense of resolve and obligation – giving you advance notice on when we WOULD be moving out, instead of just ditching mid-month.

3. I wanted to try and save some money, and thought that the extra roomate situation would enable that more easily. My error.

Now, a year later, I wish I had not done some of those things at various points.

Not everything has been bad, not all of it has been black. There has been laugher as well as frustration. However, those two have not been in balance for the last few months. Recent developments were a guilded capstone on the proverbial sarcophagous of my patience.

Richelle sure as hell deserves as much, if not MORE than an apology than I do, especially since she has put up with other crap that has bothered her alot, and kept it relatively quiet. You were kind enough to aoffer me one, I don’t see why she should be exempted.

I am done with this. I am not going to rant anymore about it. If you want to face me about things I have said, you had best be ready to apologise to Richelle as well, or I truly don’t want to hear it.

I don’t hate you, and I don’t want to kill you – but I am not particularly jovial or positive about our friendship at the moment. The conversation we had the other night, in the recent wake of your comments, was before I knew about/had read your comments to Richelle. People joked about the post you made earlier in the month, in which you made it sound as if we were “breaking up” – I don’t hold to that idealouge of our relationship, but it is very clear that, at the moment, some serious time and space is needed. We will tie up loose ends concerning the Mt. Vernon place, and then it may be a while before you hear from me again – partially so I can cool my heels, and partially because Richelle and I need to work on our own shit more than anything else atm.

For a long time someone has been advising me to just drop you as a freind altogether, in the hopes that it would wake you up as far as the things you do/don’t do which drive people nuts. I have never throught that a prudent course of action.

However, perhaps you can take this time, while I am trying to get my life back in order, to reflect on just those things, and why, I’m sure, from your perspective, the world is so against you.

I’m not, like i said, but I’m sure not pulling for you the same way I was a year ago, or even a week ago, for that matter.

1. What is the world’s largest desert?

2. What is the largest office building in the world?

3. Which of the Great Lakes is the largest in size and depth?

4. What is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea?

5. What is the world’s largest animal?

6. What is the largest city in India?

7. What is the world’s highest waterfall?

8. What is the largest species of penguin in the world?

9. What is the largest lake in Australia?

10. What is the name for the deepest part of the sea floor?

after speaking with longtime friend on the woes of library keepin yesterday, I have been inspired to procure software to aid me in this endeavor (rather than spending 6-8 hours writing my own system).

Yup, you heard it right, I am now the proud owner of Book Librarian Plus – which I will install and use UNPACKING all my books once I set up shop at the new digs. From now on, I won’t have to wonder who borrowed what – unless my system crashes and i somehow am unable to restore anything. Plus, I will eventually be able to put it online, and updateable via my phone. Ah, the geekiness doth churn like a boiling pot.

In other news, the company for which i just finished a large consulting job for was _very_ happy with my work. They want me to replicate the data model I built for them for another set of clients. I am also getting a fat referral with a Tampa group – supposedly my rates are “far less” than what my predecessor was charging and my work is “far superior” and my work ethic is “much clearer”. Y’know, I get an occasional thanks in the consulting biz, but generally it is a constant scramble to meet client expectations. Its really nice when I get a glowing call from a client.

If only I could harness the same type of positive energy and results at my 9/5.

Bloody politics.

Enough from me. Back to the mill.


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Seer

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So I’m goddamn fucking tired. chellez and I started the fumigation process last night. I am thinking I may give it one more night and go bed shopping and go to Bed/Bath/Beyond tonight to try and cheer her up a lil. I don’t think an extra day of poison is going to hurt anyone other than who I want it to hurt.

I hurt. Alot. I schlepped the queen-size-pesticide ridden mattress down 3 flights of stairs, broke down the box spring, folded and tied it in half, then piled the 5 bags of garbage (which included a mattress pad and a rolled up carpet) down curbside. I sprayed, powdered, took apart furniture, sprayed and powdered that – turned off the AC, and bombed the room with fumigator cans.

Tonight, I think I will pick up some traditional bug bombs of a different toxin subset just to be safe. I have used a little bit of everything in this endeavor, and it seemed to work pretty well last night (judging by the results we saw spraying the fuckers as I flipped the mattress).

Sleeping on that sofa bed is damn uncomfortable though – we are going to need to figure out something else – I don’t know if we will be able to deal with a week of this. Its almost more comfortable on the sofa – without the bed part.

In other news, I had a very eventful commute this morning from a people watching perspective. I got on a later train than I usually do, and rode standing with this absolutely gorgeous Hispanic woman, and her deaf son. Her son was probably about 3 or 4, and was delighted by some of the vibrations the train made – he was cheering in his own form of gobbledygook, which was joyful, hearing such exuberance, but saddening, since he couldn’t really form words. His mother seemed somewhat embarrassed by her son’s jubilation, and kept trying to distract him every time he started bellowing and dancing around. Deaf kids have even less of a sense of volume control than normal ones do I guess. I hope she doesn’t have to take care of him alone – she looked tired, I think that was part of her beauty. I dunno. They got off at Fordham.

I took out my game boy, and was about 30 seconds into my newly purchased Super Ghouls and Ghosts, when this shrilly mom came wandering into the vestibule talking very loudly to someone on her cell phone. She was brunette, with an ill-concealed moustache beneath a quarter inch of face spackle. She had wiry curly hair, and was dressed to be 20, when she should have been shooting for mid-30’s. She was in lots of beiges and browns, all a size or two too small, and wore the most god-awful copper wrist thin g(it went from her hand almost to her elbow) that I have ever seen. It quickly became apparent that it was her son, recently departed to college, who she was waking up.

Now, I have mixed feelings about college, but I don’t know of anyone, freshman or otherwise, who would want to be talking to his mom before 9am on a Thursday morning. Mom was haranguing him about not using the cell to call local friends. That was why she called, to tell him that he should use his dorm phone for calling friends, and the cell phone was for talking to her. She then proceeded to ask about friends, his running schedule, his class schedule, if he had made any friends, what he had for dinner the night before, who he was planning on hanging out with that day… She then went into vivid detail about how the kid’s father had called her, crying, and that she had thought it was him! Once she realized it was her ex-husband (she mentioned her new hubby later in the convo) she hung up on him. She then went into the importance of making sure he reserved Thanksgiving flights this weekend, and that she didn’t want him flying “that Jetblue Company” since she didn’t trust them because anyone who offered tickets that cheap obviously was doing _something_ shady.

The kid then tried getting rid of mom for the next several minutes – probably because his hung-over dorm-mate was reaching for an empty beer bottle to throw at him, and mom would not have it. Finally after 5 minutes of “oh, but you don’t have class for another hour” and “you can shower after you run in this afternoon’s practice” he finally escaped when her phone dropped signal. She made a little sigh – something you would expect to come out of a six year old just denied a popsicle.

She called back.

He didn’t pick up.

Good for him.

I asked her, politely, if it was her first child going to college. She seemed rather taken aback that I knew what was going on in her world (despite the megaphone volume of her end of the convo), and responded with a somewhat stunned “Yes, he’s my oldest.”

I chuckled.

“The hardest part about college is for parents, I think. It is easy for kids to let go, they want to get on with their lives, but the kids are the last 20 years of the parents lives…”

She turned bright red, and moved as if to jab me in the shoulder with a quickly pointed finger.

“What do YOU know about it! He’s out there all alone, without me to protect him, and make sure he gets everywhere on time, and isn’t hanging out with the wrong…”

The whole time the lady was erupting in her triggered tirade, she was inching towards me with that finger, set to poke.

I said, fairly loudly, with a real hard glare “Lady, you are proving my point here, and if you get much closer with that finger, you might not get it back!”

She did the fish out of water thing for a second, then stormed back to her seat, and an equally flabbergasted co-commuter, who had mentioned the cell-phone usage thing to her in the first place, which had offered her the excuse to call her son and wake him up…

Work is a little on the hellish side, so much to do and exactly 0 energy to do it with.

Lots of LJ freinds posting interesting things recently. I wish I had more time to devote to this.

So I am having this fitful dream about being tied to a peice of marble facedown and having very small drill bits inserted at high-rotation speeds into the small of my back and shoulders. Not going particularly deep at first, the drill creates patches of small bloody skin and ripped meat around my shoulderblades and the base of my spine. Gradually my tormentor switches to a longer bit and moves towads the center of my back, where the ribs lie. Around the time I feel my lungs start filling with blood, whistling, gurgling, and belching like a pack of ghouls at some obscene fleshy feast, I wake up.

Except the incessant heat/itching in my back doesn’t go away when I wake up. I flip a hand behind my back to make sure I am not, in fact drilled, and itch one of the iritated spots. The itching fingers find a bump, which cracks under the pressure of my itching digit, and I feel wetness on my finger. The bottom of my stomach falls out.

I get my glasses, and sneak to the bathroom.

I think I figured out why I have been sleeping fitfully recently – apparently Rich’s fucking problem has moved east.

I am so angry, filled with loathing, and frustrated at how much time I am going to have to waste on de-lousing my bed, my room, and doing so in a manner that will be safe not only to Richelle and I, but to Marley, who tends to sleep beneath the bed, that I cannot possibly go to sleep. I’ve taken a shower already, and will probably take another pretty soon. I don’t know if I am going to go back to bed even. My stomach is churning like the machinery driving the drills in my dream.

I’ve read all there is that is worthwhile on the subject online. It does not look like this is going to be an imposibility to tend to the matter myself – it means a trip to C-Town and Home Depot, and an entire evening wasted in futile work. Richelle is going to flip out. I should have just listened to her a week ago when she voiced her concerns. At least her mom will be gone, so we can crash in the living room.

Rich said something months ago akin to: “I wouldn’t wish this on anyone, especially not my best friend.” Well, he bloody fucking well should have done less wishing and more proactive maintence and cleaning, instead of going with bargain basement exterminators, and not being on top of the cause of the goddamn problem. Marley or I probably trekked a female into the bedroom from the hallway or perhaps even the computer room (though there is no supporting evidence YET of infestation at my computer, if there is, I will most probably go on a blunt trauma spree). I might be able to call an exterminator, but that is going to take a mess of time calling around to find one who we can afford AND who can get here ASAP, AND doesn’t involve me taking time off work.

My current McGuyver extermination plan involves a large box of huge black trash bags, several rolls of tape, copius amounts of insecticide, a gallon of bleach, a steam cleaner, and several large heat lamps. I plan on bagging/packing everything in the bedroom (not in the closets) – plastic-coating both closet doorways, dissassembling all the furniture, rolling up the carpet, dousing EVERYTHING in insecticide, then making a bleach/water mixture, and adding that to the mattresses. They will be black bagged, taped sealed, and placed upright overnght, with the room closed off, the air conditioner removed, under the heat of the sun lamps. Apparently, bedbugs cannot live in temperatures over 100 degrees or so. More than one site suggested bagging the mattresses and leaving them out in the sun for several hours. I cannot take off any time off right now to do this during the day, so I will have to outlay $ to tend to the matter. Perhaps a space heater as well.

Once everything is sufficently caoted with death juice, bagged, and ready for baking, I will set up the room, and tape the door to the bedroom shut with plastic, and let things go overnight. I will turn off the lamps in the morning, but leave things sitting all day in the sweltering third floor heat. When I get home, I will then begin the tedious task of steam cleaning EVERYTHING.

Part of me almost doesn’t want to bother or deal with the risk- just throw away the bed and boxspring – move the fram after going over every inch of it with deadly poisons and a steam cleaner, and having 1800mattress deliver a new bed to our new apartment. We only need to worry about it for another week and a half if I do it that way. Maybe I can use the money I just made to get Richelle one of those Tempur-Pedic beds. I don’t even know how much they cost…

Hmm just looked into the matter, unless I am getting some crazy financing, and buying from a generic company it doesn’t look like it is going to happen. Maybe just a really nice new mattress – they are definitely more affordable. The fucking Tempur-Pedic things are like 1500$ for a queen size, plus another 250$ for the base mattress, plus shipping.

This is clearly what I get for being a little optimistic about my fucking life.

Rich just came in and lay down on the sofa – I wonder why. I’m going to go take another shower.

Oakland Raider Fans, Rednecks
Circle I Limbo

General asshats
Circle II Whirling in a Dark & Stormy Wind

Emo Folk
Circle III Mud, Rain, Cold, Hail & Snow

Boston Red Socks Fans, Scientologists
Circle IV Rolling Weights

The Pope
Circle V Stuck in Mud, Mangled

River Styx

Parents who bring squalling brats to R-rated movies
Circle VI Buried for Eternity

River Phlegyas

Creationists
Circle VII Burning Sands

Republicans
Circle IIX Immersed in Excrement

DMV Employees, George Bush
Circle IX Frozen in Ice

Design your own hell

My LiveJournal Sitcom
caracarn And duck (CBS, 2:30): caracarn (Jules Asner) buys kim_jong_il__ (Jack Nicholson) a mule. Nearby, chellez (Jeanne Tripplehorn) hires superspryte (Jennifer Jason Leigh) to perform pantomime at the library. On the other side of town, fox_in_socks (Alan Rickman) gets timaeusdaspirge (Kirstie Alley) drunk. In the next town over, idchild (Patrick Swayze) and kompressorpower (Ingrid Bergman) collaborate on writing a romance novel. At the same time, peepeepoopoo (Priscilla Presley) makes fun of grimbil (Sidney Poitier) for enjoying modern dance. (Part 2 of 2.)
What’s Your LiveJournal Sitcom? (by rfreebern)

had a very busy weekend. ran all over manhattan with richelle’s mom doing touristy stuff. decided to cook instead of eating out yesterday, because richelle’s mom has never had lamb before. unfortunately, the store didn’t have lamb either! I made stuffed porkchops instead.

Busy week ahead – hope I can hold it all together =)

And now for…


















So lets see – I’m at work in the midst of a conversation with Richelle yesterday, and everything goes off. Not like someone flipped a switch – there was a sputter, things went off, then on, then off.

And then it was me, and my pc on a UPS, as 99% of my buddy list disconnected at the same time.

Talk about scary.

Went to look outside – nothing on fire. Spent the next half hour or so combing for info on the net on a pc on the Hospital’s emergency generators. Found precious little. The going theories were that either Niagara got hit, or that there was a fire at the Con Ed Station at 14th street. My nerves were very on edge – I was expecting fallout at any minute.

I realized that if I didn’t get the hell out of dodge, I was going to end up sleeping there. On the way out of the building, security was not letting anyone without an ID in. There was a man who had just left to get his car when the power ran out. His wife was stuck on the second floor in a wheelchair, but security wouldn’t let him in to get her. Security, actually, would do nothing but stop him from coming in the building. They were being real assholes, and the poor guy was crying about how his wife couldn’t take care of herself, and since she was discharged already, no one would care.

I took one of his cards so I could get her name (Leihrman), and so she would believe me if I just randomly approached her, and went up to get her down the stairs. Two orderlies gave me a hand, and we got her to her husband. After that, there didn’t seem to be much else to do at work, so I got the hell out. Cell phones were not working calling other cell phones, but I could call land lines. Richelle made it home ok (though I didn’t find that out until almost 7), and I checked in with my folks and wangch61 to let them know I was alive. I was going to wait around until Metro North started running busses. If that didn’t work, I figured I would head over to wang’s to chill out, however I didn’t get hold of him until the great walk had begun.

I walked up to 125th street Metro North with my co-worker Orlando, who was going to work his way to his mom in the Bronx. Along the way, I remarked that if I had wanted to get people on the street to drop a bomb or poison gas, than that definitely would be a great plan to stick with – cut the power and get people on the road. Orlando was not too amused by my macabre humor. He waited for the Bx15 – which ran to Fordham Road. I went over to see what the situation was with a large number of Westchester commuters stranded at the train terminal.

Things did not look good.

I started introducing myself to everyone and trying to figure out who was going somewhere near to me, so maybe we could pool funds to get off the island. I found a couple from Peekskill, two women from Larchmont, and a woman from Yonkers. We spent about 10 minutes trying to get a cab, after about 5 minutes of introduction. It was just before 5:30.

We managed to get a cab (myself and the 5 other stranded Westchester commutes) who wanted 30$ up front (which was about all the cash I had on me at the time) – we piled in, only to be abandoned at the Madison Ave Bridge because the cabbie realized he was going to run out of gas before he could get us to Westchester! I managed to harangue him into driving us back to 125, but, aside from me and this other lady, no one seemed interested in getting the money back from the cab driver.

The local policeman directing traffic didn’t seem to interested in helping either. I got out of the cab to ask for his assistance, and the cabbie started driving away with the woman in the backseat, who hollered at the cabbie until he let her out a block north of 125. I really wish I had gotten the guy’s medallion #.

I was pretty pissed.

I waited around for another 15 minutes or so until a big posse of walkers hit 125 hoping that trains were running. Many had walked from uptown – one guy, Greg, had walked from the battery, after catching a ferry from Jersey. They started asking me and this other Metro North official nearby what the situation was.

After being assured that the trains were just plain not going to run, all of them decided to keep walking, but none of them knew the way. One woman wanted to walk over to the west side, another was talking about walking to the GWB. Most needed to get to the Bronx, or Yonkers. Greg had to get to Pelham, but was parked about 5 minutes up the road from my place in Mount Vernon. I knew the closest way off the island (via Madison Ave Bridge) so I sorta became a bedraggled tour leader. after seeing the mob of hundreds at the bus, none of them wanted to try and wait any more than I did.

The problem was Greg, his friend Anthony (who we met on the walk up at 130th street, oddly enough, they know each other from work but were at totally different places in the city that day), and myself walked considerably faster than the women in the crowd, who only really wanted to complain about how awful a trial we were enduring. I just wanted to get home, not bitch about it. I made a joke about how at least we weren’t Liberians having to break past a blockade of people who wanted to kill us o get back to our families. They stayed quiet until the one lady busted a heel on the sidewalk. They all decided to stop, just short of the bridge, to see if they could beg a ride from someone.

Greg, Ant, and myself all pressed on.

So, I walked from about 6ish until just after 7:30. We made it all the way up Grand Concourse, and were just on the fringe of Fordham Road. I had been trying one of my other coworkers, Rob, who lived in the area, since we got off Manhattan. He had a van, so I knew he would be able to help out. Turned out he was asleep through the whole thing, and woke up because he was hot. He came by and picked us up, and gave myself and my two traveling companions a ride to my neighborhood. I got off at the intersection of Lincoln ave off the Hutch, and they continued on to where Greg’s car was parked.

I have to remember to buy Rob a case of beer or an oz or something for helping me out last night. I would have eventually made it home, but closer to 10 than 8:15 (which is when I ended up making it).

I took a shower, sat up talking with Richelle, her mom, and Rich until around 11, then went to bed. Apparently everyone was snoring, which kept Richelle up. I expected power when we woke up. We didn’t have any. I called my dad – he had power – radio in the car said power would be back by noon.

No dice.

We went out to get some eats – drove around, I charged up my phone. We got home around 2.

No power.

According to the news it was just lingering areas in the city left without power.

They apparently missed Mount Vernon in their sweeps.

Anyhow, around 4, power came back – about 30 minutes later, Internet came back.

The TV just came back.

All in all, this was not a bad experience. I feel badly that Richelle’s wedding dress plans got messed up – but my bro and my grandma, both of who flew yesterday, and were in the air when the juice got cut, landed safely.

So far as I know no one I know died, or was injured, in the course of things.

The worst I suffered was some sore dogs, and a hot night.

All in all, my hat is off to Con Ed for getting things back up, and my heart goes out to all those who had it worse than me.

Definitely makes for some interesting memories though – was very reminiscent of my trip out of the city on 9/11 – with perhaps a bit more clarity of mind, and a little less shell shock.

Like I said, just glad everyone I know and love is ok.

I think I’m going to go have a drink with some ice in it.

I’ll be remembering to avoid Toledo – if i never go there, then i can be IMMORTAL

Depressing Real Life Modulator by chellez
Name
Most Important Possession
Fav Carbonated Beverage
Fantasy Job World Famous Chef
Actual Job Codewarrior
Incidentally… You die alone in Toledo.
Created with quill18‘s MemeGen!

Do you keep falling asleep in meetings & seminars? What about those
long & boring conference calls? Here’s a way to change all that:

1. Before (or during) your next meeting, seminar, or conference call,
prepare for the meeting by drawing a square — 5″X5″ is a good size.

2. Divide the square into columns — five across and five down. That
will give you 25 one-inch blocks.

3. In each block, write one of the following words/phrases:

synergy
strategic fit
core competencies
best practice
bottom line
revisit
take that off-line
24/7
out of the loop
benchmark
value added
proactive
win-win
think outside the box
fast track
result-driven
empower(ment)
knowledge base
at the end of the day
touch base
mindset
client focus(ed)
ballpark
game plan
leverage

4. Whenever you hear any one of those words/phrases, check off the
appropriate block.

5. When you get! five blocks horizontally, vertically, or diagonally,
stand up and shout “BULLSHIT!”

Testimonials from satisfied “Bullshit Bingo” players:

“I had been in the meeting for only five minutes when I won.” –Jack
W., Boston.

“My attention span at meetings has improved drastically.” –David D.,
Miami

“What a gas! Meetings will never be the same for me after my first
win.” –Sue S., NYC

“The atmosphere was tense in our last process meeting as 14 of us
waited for the fifth box.” — Joseph R., St.Louis

“The speaker was stunned as eight of us screamed BULLSHIT! for the
third time in two hours.” — Kathleen L., Atlanta

Your name here – Caracarn

From here

Literal meaning
“Satan.”

History
Found in limestone deposits in Chester around 11am, the name Caracarn was originally used chiefly to refer to nuns and the violators of nuns, before taking a bullet for the Pope.

Famous Caracarns
1. Caracarn W Macaulay-Endeavour (“The Blue”), co-writer of INDIANA JONES AND THE LEAGUE OF SILENT EXPLODERS;
2. Caracarn Nivea, BSc, early user of the world’s seventh highest-rated episode of Mr Pastry;
3. Caracarn ap Tinkermouse, channeller under supernatural influences of eight entirely new ways to kneel;
4. Caracarn Itching-Nootlooter, who could never shake an early association with edible bark;
5. Caracarn Happenstance, belittler of the world’s sturdiest box; first holder of the fairly secret office of Gross Miscarriager of Justice;
6. “Terrible” Caracarn Staplegun-Cangoose, BA, proponent of the self-propelled gardener;
7. Caracarn C X K de la Frewsy-Trabmaw, of the generation which fondly remembers several of the more violent gypsy curses;
8. Caracarn du Toot (“The Reasonably Broadly Educated”), champion of the deckchair-cum-hat;
9. Caracarn Frote, who lost a fortune on quiffs;
10. Caracarn I Tube, named in court as holding compromising material concerning a nice cup of tea.

Typical Caracarn motto
“Hahaha! That was funny.”

Worked after work until around 8:30, then got a ride home with my bro. Scarfed some bratwurst then ran over to the ther apartment to do round 2 of paint, and to try and get internet set up.

Sure enough, internet was a problem – I have to call back tomorrow. The painting went very well though. Hopefully only one more coat and things will look OK – then the white on all the trim and touch up.

Richelle’s mom gets here tomorrow. Tomorrow night I am going to make eggplant parm, and I am thinking maybe lamb for thursday, I dunno. Friday we should be out in the city – and I think we will play the weekend by ear.Monday night should be something relatively low key I guess, since Tuesday is a big blast bonanza.

I also considered maybe doing the Korean/Japanese place Thursday night, instead of cooking again. Especially since it looks like now I _won’t_ be able to take the day off, since I need to be around to interview UNIX replacements.

Bah says I.

We still need to get to home depot, return some stuff, pick up a new countertop, as well as the prefab peices for a wardrobe, some hardware for the kitchen cabinets, some sort of bathroom shelving unit, perhaps a reinforcement for my closet, some sorta tension rod/door solution for the kitchen pantry, and possibly a big roll of carpet. My mom said I could take her futon – so maybe we’ll just get a funky cover for it or something – I dunno.

Later today, I need to get flash remoting work, call about my stupid cable account, double check that we have a mover reservation, double check with my landlord that we will have a stove by the time we move in, and call back some folks at the side job to make sure everything is still working smoothly. I also need to follow up on the two sites I launced this week, and get a coherent plan togther for my next project before end-of-day.

Oh yeah, my side job is 16/40 hours into thier annual service contract, and we are only on the 13th day of coverage! Mayhaps they will see some extended billing =)

I posted a “to buy” list earlier – one of my stupid study partners, Mike (and my bloody resident hebrew translator since Rabbi Linder died) ran off to Cincinnati with a mess of my books in tow. I had to find out from his ex-g/f, who said he didn’t leave any forwarding info with anyoen, and pissed off a few people inthe process. So now I am left rebuying lots of my Hebrew sourcebooks.I wonder if I could get them all on CD or something? And I need to find a new Hebrew translator – I can’t go back to dictionary pecking.

I wish I could learn the bloody language without the mandatory theology.

My body wants sleep – my brain refuses to turn off.

Stupid brain.

Thank you for recently taking the Self Discovery Workshop’s IQ Test. Your IQ Test score was: 157

Our test gives you a quick and fast measurement of your abilities, and that can indicate directions for you to take.

Average: 85 – 115
Above average: 116 – 125
Gifted Borderline Genius: 126 – 135
Highly gifted and appearing to be a Genius to most others: 136 – 145
Genius: 146 – 165
High Genius: 166 – 180
Highest Genius: 181 – 200
Beyond being measurable Genius: Over 200

Seems pretty damn limited as a tesst goes, they want you to buy the “detailed information”.

Borught to you (probably) by the same folks who sell the “Whos Who Among the Nation’s Most Promising High School/College Student” books.

Reading list for the next 3 mos (some is refrence – don’t forget to update bib)

Signs of the Inka Khipu (ISBN: 0292785402)
Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies (ISBN: 0393038912)
Genes, Peoples, and Languages(ISBN: 0520228731)
The Great Human Diasporas: The History of Diversity and Evolution (ISBN: 0201442310)
The Seven Daughters of Eve (ISBN: 0393323145)
Mapping Human History: Discovering the Past Through Our Genes (ISBN: 0618091572)
The Third Chimpanzee : The Evolution and Future of the Human Animal (ISBN: 0060984031)
Kabbalah (ISBN: 0452010071)
Tanakh (ISBN: 0827602529)
The Bahir (ISBN: 1568213832)
Sefer Yetzirah (ISBN: 1568215037)
Zohar (ISBN: 0970089406)
The Book of Enoch (ISBN: 096757370X)
The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English(ISBN: 0713991313)
The Nag Hammadi Library in English (ASIN: 0060669292)
Patterns in Prehistory: Humankind’s First Three Million Years (ISBN: 0195085728)
The Dawn of Human Culture(ISBN: 0471252522)
The Shamans of Prehistory: Trance and Magic in the Painted Caves (ISBN: 0810941821)
The Prehistory of the Mind: The Cognitive Origins of Art, Religion and Science (ASIN: 0500050813)

As the league leading Office Linebacker for four years running, “Terrible” Terry Tate possesses the vision, the experience, and the unique ability “to bring the pain up in this humpy-bumpy” that California so desperately needs. Terry promises to end partisan gridlock by knocking some fiscal sense into the corporate lobbyists, career bureaucrats, and partisan politicians who are at the heart of the problem: “I’m the type of player that player haters hate to play – cause I’m 100% heart baby, all day, every day. ”

Once elected, Mr. Tate will tackle white collar crime: “Ya’ll suckah’s who don’t pay taxes and hang out on your Gucci yachts? With Triple T in charge, you know you gonna get caught.” Terry also commits himself to reducing overcrowding at schools, improving air quality, and eliminating “long-[expletive] coffee breaks – five minutes tops, or ya’ll gonna get clocked.”

And despite the risk inherent in being the top executive of the state, Terry stands alone among leading candidates in his pledge to realize the hopes and dreams of the voters of California without taking a vacation or a sick day. “Playin’ hurt? Baby that don’t phase me. The only pain I got time for is the pain I put on fools who don’t know what time it is.”

Most importantly, a vote for Terry Tate is a vote for a better future for California’s children, families, and businesses: “I’m gonna govern the [expletive] out of this state. Believe that, California.”

I’ll have 32 episodes of Samurai Jack by tomorrow Unfortunately, episode #3 appears to be one of the rarer finds…after that I have straight through to 23, then things get spotty.

I want to have them all before I move.

D-day failed. With the loss of manpower, the US had to pull out of the European front altogether. We still bombed the Japanese, who withdrew from the war. We gave the technology to the Russians, so they could police Japan for us, and hold the Germans off as we settled the Polynesian front. Australia became a strong ally of the US. Canada ceded to the US after the influx of British refugees crushed its internal government. In 1951, the British royal family, in secret relocated to Canada, leaving Britannia to the wiles of hungry Nazis.

The Nazi’s took Africa and most of the middle east – the Russians held the line at Moldova. Everything east of there became Russian territory, even China, which ceded to the Russians after one use of nuclear armamnt in Bejing.. Stalin became a wartime expansionist, but rather than plunge his country into war debt, accepted the changes that needed to be made to survive. Russia became the trade/technological capitol of the world. There was some prosperity in the stalemate years between 1953 (The Treaty of New Paris – signed into action as a non-hostility pact after Germany developed the bomb and nuked Jerusalem to dust) and the late 70s.

By that point, a tripartite cold war had broken out. The Nazi-Fascism government failed, Hitler was assonated by a dissident, and the whole government fell to petty warmongers and corrupt politicians. The Nazi empire, by the closing years of the 70’s was not too dissimilar to contemporary communist Russia.

Stalin lived to an old age, left the seat of his empire to his son, and saw his country into a period of time similar to our own post-boom economy. The US saw an influx of Russians along the west coast, to the point that Baja California was renamed “New Russia”. The world was essentially thirded. After Jerusalem was razed, news of the holocaust eventually came in trickles. The Vatican relocated, in much the same way that the British Royals did, under cover of night and underground rail, to Moscow, which became the new seat of Christian Faith.

The only political hotspot over all those years was South America, where the Nazis had a small foothold, and the US was not spread thickly enough to directly confront, and, since the hostilities were officially over, the “West Germany” of the east became the center of all the espionage by the US.

As a result of the voracious cultural changes from our reality – lots of modern day things were different. First and foremost, computers became an emerging science around _now_. Many of the Asian countries which provided the cheap electronics that allowed the tech boom to prosper were engaged in a totally different type of trade manufacturing, so the boom didn’t happen in the public sector – computers became a potential for military might.

The space race never happened either. The Russians had a secret plan to implement it, but were wary what such an incursion could mean in terms of hostilities from their Westward neighbors.

In short, you had technological refinement of around the late 70’s in modern day. There was no internet, fax machines were an emerging technology, and primarily dedicated to military communication. By its end, the war took more than half of America’s men. There was no baby boom- there were two generations of hard work and many old spinsters.

Into that came my family, which was limited to My father and I (my mother dying in childbirth having my brother, and my sister having been euthanized at age 4 under the “genetic purity act of 1967”). My father was a CO for Northeastern Military Intelligence. I was a normal grunt in the Navy (Military jobs offered the best benefits, while the private sector slowly crept along, trying to match the military bulk of the GNP). However, I was only a grunt in appearance; I was actually a covert ops specialist under the direct command of my father’s division: Investigation of Domestic Insurrection.

Now, this is where the dream really starts. The preceding came to me in snippets throughout the rest of the dream, some of it came before. The order was not completely chronological.

I was put on temporary disability for a spinal injury, and confined to a wheelchair. It was because of this that I was chosen to instigate a group of Irish expatriates stationed in Maine – engaged in various black market trading with New Britain, the only non US territory in North America (what is modern day Prince Edward Isle, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia). They were selling various narcotics and weapons to raise funds to channel back to the IRA still stationed in Ireland.

I was chosen because I could be a successful infiltrator, and because the best spinal surgeons in the free countries were in New Britain. I was to co-opt the British end of things, find out who the US suppliers were in Maine, assess their operation (if possible) and get the info back to HQ within three months.

I was successful in infiltrating the NB operation – to an extent, but enough of one to work my way back into Maine. There I found a small Japanese-American group which was working with the local Irish muscle, providing the labor for manufacturing etc, which was why no one could trace the origins of the arms being traded. The narcotics were coming in from the south through Cuba, the narcotics capitol of the world, and then moving north along the coast by sea.

I had tons of recon in both microfilm and micro recordings that were all put into small consoles throughout my wheelchair. After getting a topical understanding of the operation in Maine, I had to work my way back to NYC to give my report. However, this was all taking place in the midst of one of the worst march winters in recorded history.

Ultimately, the weather led to many delays as I worked my way down the New England Coast. I eventually had to travel by train from New Haven CT to NYC, only to get stuck in NYC on St. Patrick’s Day, the day after the worst blizzard in recorded history.

The whole time from leaving Maine to turning in my info, I was being pursued by the folks I double crossed (who knew I had the goods on their operation) AND a group of German spies who wanted the information so they could make the Japanese cell working with the Irish an offer on the new munitions being developed in the wilds of Maine.

And the whole time, I had to keep to the wheelchair so as not to break my cover AND because all my intel was stashed throughout its frame.

I ended up getting married to a drunk Irish girl in the midst of the post-parade festivities in my attempt to make it down to Wall Street (beneath which was the HQ for NEUS Intel), largely in an attempt to throw off my pursuers, and secondly, because it gave me access to a limo, which I used to make good my escape.

The dream ended with me being debriefed personally by my father, after handing in all the info, and him telling me I had been promoted to a filed captain, and had 6 weeks before I went out on assignment again. I told him I got married, and he laughed and told me that I had better move fast, because I wasn’t going to see her again for a long time after 6 weeks.

Shortly after leaving his office to find my way back to my flat in Brooklyn, I woke up.

Someday the silver moon and I will go to dreamland
I will close my eyes and wake up there in dreamland
And Tell me who will put flowers on a flower’s grave?
Who will say a prayer?

Will I meet a China rose there in dreamland?
Or does love lie bleeding in dreamland?
Are these days forever and always?

And if we are to die tonight
Is there a moonlight up ahead?
And if we are to die tonight
Another rose will bloom

For a faded rose
Will I be the one that you save?
I love when it showers
But no one puts flowers
On a flower’s grave

As one rose blooms and another will die
It’s always been that way
I remember the showers
But no one puts flowers
On a flower’s grave

And if we are to die tonight
Is there a moonlight up ahead?
I remember the showers
But no one puts flowers
On a flower’s grave

ok, everyone out there in lj land, its time for some inspirational work. thanks to timaeus for sparking the fire here with the pic, and coworker julie for prodding me to follow through.
Take this image, and gimme a story:

What is this guy’s deal, how did he end up there for that photo? Where is there for that matter?
My entry is as follows:

“…and after the 3rd eightball that weekend, i found myself in a field, 30 years older, in someone else’s clothes.”

Julie writes in:
“”will you marry me?” sent to a picture bride in some whatever-stan on the other side of the world”

Be as short or prolific as LJ can allow – but i want some INSPIRED WORK folks – I know you are capable of it!

1. Which famous explorer sailed round the world between 1577 and
1580 in “The Golden Hind”?

2. Who allegedly said “Doctor Livingstone, I presume” on meeting
David Livingstone in Africa in 1871?

3. Was Christopher Columbus born in Spain, Italy or France?

4. Which explorer established the first European colony in
Australia?

5. Which Norwegain explorer led the Kon-Tiki expedition in 1947?

6. The Northwest Passage was often sought by early explorers. It
is a route between which two oceans?

7. Who led the expedition which first reached the South Pole on
14 December 1911?

8. Which British explorer made the first surface journey around
the world’s polar circumference between 1979 and 1982?

9. Which Norwegian explorer won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1922?

10. Which Scottish explorer traced the course of the Niger River
in the 1790s?

a large number of linkages seen on this journal come from a good friend and associate Jeff Beck, without whose inspirational surfing of the web, I would spend at least a good extra hour per day working! Whenever I get around to getting Abulafia ™ off the ground, he will have proper acclaim, and my life will be complete. Until then…

Here is to you Mr. Beck!

i busted past 1400 quotes in my quotebook today. pretty impressive.

I discovered many of my coworkers are also Samurai Jack fans, for many of the same reasons I am. It has gone on the spiders, hopefully I will find somwhere I can download me three seasons of oriental-slicey goodness.

Today is definitely a Monday in disguise. Stuff blowing up left and right at work – and after puliling a late night at my side job with Richelle last night, I am going to have to go back to get yet more stupid technical problems erased on Thursday. Fucking technical drama is not what i need in my life.

Ah well, they are into the double digits of contract coverage at the moment – and the contract is barely a month old. If the year keeps up like this, I’ll make some serious bank by the end of it.

I’m starting to get stressed out about our new apartment. We need to pack,clean,arrange a mover, get the bedroom painted, get a wardrobe installed, and get the kitchen redone _before_ we move in. I hope we can get most of that knocked out this weekend, because next weekend is shot with Richelle’s mom in town, and the weekend after that I would like to try to move some chunky stuff.

My bro said he would be interested in helping iwth install/demo this weekend, which is great, because we are def gonna need his car for carrying stuph back and forth between Home Depot and the place.

We also need to figure out some sort of new living room stuff. I love dearly my 4 year old queen sleeper couch with accompanying loveseat, but there is just no goddamn way they are going to be able to get into the apartment – short of cutting the damn thing up then putting it back together.

Personally, I think it will be easier to just get new furniture delivered.

I need to get some whole, dried anise for making my chicken tonite for Richelle’s potluck tomorrow. I have some backup plans in mind if I can’t get it, but I was really hoping I wouldn’t have to experiment on a mass-consumption item.

In other news, I’ve decided that I need to start writing, seriously, at least once a week. I’m not losing my touch, but I can feel the shimmer leaving my metaphoric scales. I’ve been thinking in iambic pentamater all day – I think it is my brain’s attempt to SOS me into some hardcore creativity.

I need to call my lawyer, and figure out what the deal is with my license – this is gonna cost me like another grand, I can smell it already – maybe once we are all moved n crap.

Grumpy Bear
You are always complaining about something, especially about always having to do all the work, and make the easiest things difficult. Your grumbling can go too far and really hurt those around you. Even though you can be hard to deal with, others like you anyways because you are mysteriously charming and cute when you’re mad. You are good at fixing things and are willing to take on large tasks…with a little grumbling of course!

One of three planned posts for the day – 2 are gonna be entertainment based, hopefully one will have some content. If you have a modem, don’t bother unless you have a bed to make while the cut loads.
























Note that this represents an international/cross historial flavor. I would make very different suggestions if you were looking to focus on any one specific aspects of literary history.

Fiction
Chinua Achebe, Nigeria, (b. 1930), Things Fall Apart
Hans Christian Andersen, Denmark, (1805-1875), Fairy Tales and Stories
Jane Austen, England, (1775-1817), Pride and Prejudice
Honore de Balzac, France, (1799-1850), Old Goriot
Samuel Beckett, Ireland, (1906-1989), Trilogy: Molloy, Malone Dies, The Unnamable
Giovanni Boccaccio, Italy, (1313-1375), Decameron
Jorge Luis Borges, Argentina, (1899-1986), Collected Fictions
Emily Bronte, England, (1818-1848), Wuthering Heights
Albert Camus, France, (1913-1960), The Stranger
Paul Celan, Romania/France, (1920-1970), Poems.
Louis-Ferdinand Celine, France, (1894-1961), Journey to the End of the Night
Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Spain, (1547-1616), Don Quixote
Geoffrey Chaucer, England, (1340-1400), Canterbury Tales
Joseph Conrad, England,(1857-1924), Nostromo
Dante Alighieri, Italy, (1265-1321), The Divine Comedy
Charles Dickens, England, (1812-1870), Great Expectations
Denis Diderot, France, (1713-1784), Jacques the Fatalist and His Master
Alfred Doblin, Germany, (1878-1957), Berlin Alexanderplatz
Fyodor M Dostoyevsky, Russia, (1821-1881), Crime and Punishment; The Idiot; The Possessed; The Brothers Karamazov
George Eliot, England, (1819-1880), Middlemarch
Ralph Ellison, United States, (1914-1994), Invisible Man
Euripides, Greece, (c 480-406 BC), Medea
William Faulkner, United States, (1897-1962), Absalom, Absalom; The Sound and the Fury
Gustave Flaubert, France, (1821-1880), Madame Bovary; A Sentimental Education
Federico Garcia Lorca, Spain, (1898-1936), Gypsy Ballads
Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Colombia, (b. 1928), One Hundred Years of Solitude; Love in the Time of Cholera
Gilgamesh, Mesopotamia (c 1800 BC).
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Germany, (1749-1832), Faust
Nikolai Gogol, Russia, (1809-1852), Dead Souls
Gunter Grass, Germany, (b.1927), The Tin Drum
Joao Guimaraes Rosa, Brazil, (1880-1967), The Devil to Pay in the Backlands
Knut Hamsun, Norway, (1859-1952), Hunger.
Ernest Hemingway, United States, (1899-1961), The Old Man and the Sea
Homer, Greece, (c 700 BC), The Iliad and The Odyssey
Henrik Ibsen, Norway (1828-1906), A Doll’s House
The Book of Job, Israel. (600-400 BC).
James Joyce, Ireland, (1882-1941), Ulysses
Franz Kafka, Bohemia, (1883-1924), The Complete Stories; The Trial; The Castle Bohemia
Kalidasa, India, (c. 400), The Recognition of Sakuntala
Yasunari Kawabata, Japan, (1899-1972), The Sound of the Mountain
Nikos Kazantzakis, Greece, (1883-1957), Zorba the Greek
DH Lawrence, England, (1885-1930), Sons and Lovers
Halldor K Laxness, Iceland, (1902-1998), Independent People
Giacomo Leopardi, Italy, (1798-1837), Complete Poems
Doris Lessing, England, (b.1919), The Golden Notebook
Astrid Lindgren, Sweden, (1907-2002), Pippi Longstocking
Lu Xun, China, (1881-1936), Diary of a Madman and Other Stories
Mahabharata, India, (c 500 BC). Naguib Mahfouz, Egypt, (b. 1911), Children of Gebelawi
Thomas Mann, Germany, (1875-1955), Buddenbrook; The Magic Mountain
Herman Melville, United States, (1819-1891), Moby Dick
Michel de Montaigne, France, (1533-1592), Essays. Elsa Morante, Italy, (1918-1985), History
Toni Morrison, United States, (b. 1931), Beloved
Shikibu Murasaki, Japan, (N/A), The Tale of Genji Genji
Robert Musil, Austria, (1880-1942), The Man Without Qualities
Vladimir Nabokov, Russia/United States, (1899-1977), Lolita
Njaals Saga, Iceland, (c 1300).
George Orwell, England, (1903-1950), 1984
Ovid, Italy, (c 43 BC), Metamorphoses
Fernando Pessoa, Portugal, (1888-1935), The Book of Disquiet
Edgar Allan Poe, United States, (1809-1849), The Complete Tales
Marcel Proust, France, (1871-1922), Remembrance of Things Past
Francois Rabelais, France, (1495-1553), Gargantua and Pantagruel
Juan Rulfo, Mexico, (1918-1986), Pedro Paramo
Jalal ad-din Rumi, Iran, (1207-1273), Mathnawi
Salman Rushdie, India/Britain, (b. 1947), Midnight’s Children
Sheikh Musharrif ud-din Sadi, Iran, (c 1200-1292), The Orchard
Tayeb Salih, Sudan, (b. 1929), Season of Migration to the North
Jose Saramago, Portugal, (b. 1922), Blindness
William Shakespeare, England, (1564-1616), Hamlet; King Lear; Othello
Sophocles, Greece, (496-406 BC), Oedipus the King
Stendhal, France, (1783-1842), The Red and the Black
Laurence Sterne, Ireland, (1713-1768), The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy
Italo Svevo, Italy, (1861-1928), Confessions of Zeno
Jonathan Swift, Ireland, (1667-1745), Gulliver’s Travels
Leo Tolstoy, Russia, (1828-1910), War and Peace; Anna Karenina; The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Other Stories
Anton P Chekhov, Russia, (1860-1904), Selected Stories
Thousand and One Nights, India/Iran/Iraq/Egypt, (700-1500).
Mark Twain, United States, (1835-1910), The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Valmiki, India, (c 300 BC), Ramayana
Virgil, Italy, (70-19 BC), The Aeneid
Walt Whitman, United States, (1819-1892), Leaves of Grass
Virginia Woolf, England, (1882-1941), Mrs. Dalloway; To the Lighthouse
Marguerite Yourcenar, France, (1903-1987), Memoirs of Hadrian

Non-Fiction
The Education of Henry Adams, by Henry Adams
The Varieties of Religious Experience, by William James
Up From Slavery, by Booker T. Washington
A Room of One’s Own, by Virginia Woolf
Silent Spring, by Rachel Carson
Selected Essays, 1917-1932, by T.S. Eliot
The Double Helix, by James D. Watson
Speak, Memory, by Vladimir Nabokov
The American Language, by H.L. Mencken
The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money, by John Maynard Keynes
The Lives of A Cell, by Lewis Thomas
The Frontier in American History, by Frederick Jackson Turner
Black Boy, by Richard Wright
Aspects of the Novel, by E.M. Forster
The Civil War*, by Shelby Foote
The Guns of August, by Barbara Tuchman
The Proper Study of Mankind, by Isaiah Berlin
The Nature and Destiny of Man*, by Reinhold Niebuhr
Notes of a Native Son, by James Baldwin
The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas, by Gertrude Stein
The Elements of Style, by William Strunk & E.B. White
An American Dilemma*, by Gunnar Myrdal
Principia Mathematica, by Alfred North Whitehead and Bertrand Russell
The Mismeasure of Man, by Stephen Jay Gould
The Mirror and the Lamp, by M.H. Abrams
The Art of the Solube, by Peter Medawar
The Ants, by Bert Hoelldobler and E.O. Wilson
A Theory of Justice, by John Rawls
Art and Illusion, by E.H. Gombrich
The Making of the English Working Class, by E.P. Thompson
The Souls of Black Folk, by W.E.B. DuBois
Principia Ethica, by G.E. Moore
Philosophy and Civilization, by John Dewey
On Growth and Form, by D’Arcy Thompson
Ideas and Opinions, by Albert Einstein
The Age of Jackson, by Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.
The Making of the Atomic Bomb, by Richard Rhodes
Black Lamb and Grey Falcon, by Rebecca West
Autobiographies*, by W.B. Yeats
Science and Civilization in China, by Joseph Needham
Goodbye to All That, by Robert Graves
Homage to Catalonia, by George Orwell
The Autobiography of Mark Twain, by Mark Twain
Children of Crisis*, by Robert Coles
A Study of History*, by Arnold Toynbee
The Affluent Society, by John Kenneth Galbraith
Present at the Creation, by Dean Acheson
The Great Bridge, by David McCullough
Patriotic Gore, by Edmund Wilson
Samuel Johnson, by W.J. Bate
The Autobiography of Malcolm X, by Alex Haley and Malcolm X
The Right Stuff, by Tom Wolfe
Eminent Victorians, by Lytton Strachey
Working, by Studs Terkel
Darkenss Visible, by William Styron
The Liberal Imagination, by Lionel Trilling
The Second World War, by Winston Churchill
Out of Africa, by Isak Dinesen
Jefferson and His Time*, by Dumas Malone
In the American Grain, by William Carlos Williams
Cadillac Desert, by Marc Reisner
The House of Morgan, by Ron Chernow
The Sweet Science, by A.J. Liebling
The Open Society and its Enemies, by Karl Popper
The Art of Memory, by Frances Yates
Religion and the Rise of Capitalism, by R.H. Tawney
A Preface to Morals, by Walter Lippmann
The Gate of Heavenly Peace, by Jonathan Spence
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, by Thomas Kuhn
The Strange Career of Jim Crow, by C. Vann Woodward
The Rise of the West, by William H. McNeill
The Gnostic Gospels, by Elaine Pagels
James Joyce, by Richard Ellmann
Florence Nightingale, by Cecil Woodham-Smith
The Great War and Modern Memory, by Paul Fussell
The City in History, by Lewis Mumford
Battle Cry of Freedom, by James M. Macpherson
Why We Can’t Wait, by Martin Luther King Jr.
The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt, by Edmund Morris
Studies in Iconology, by Erwin Panofsky
The Face of Battle, by John Keegan
The Strange Death of Liberal England, by George Dangerfield
Vermeer, by Lawrence Gowing
A Bright Shining Lie, by Neil Sheehan
West With the Night, by Beryl Markham
This Boy’s Life, by Tobias Wolff
A Mathematician’s Apology, by G.H. Hardy
Six Easy Pieces, by Richard Feynman
Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, by Annie Dillard
The Golden Bough, by James George Frazier
Shadow and Act, by Ralph Ellison
The Power Broker, by Robert A. Caro
The American Political Tradition, by Richard Hofstadter
The Contours of American History, by William Appleman Williams
The Promise of American Life, by Herbert Croly
In Cold Blood, by Truman Capote
The Journalist and the Murderer, by Janet Malcolm
The Taming of Chance, by Ian Hacking
Operating Instructions, by Anne Lamott
Melbourne, by David Cecil

So much for reading for enlightenment, the following is pleasure:

Science Fiction
Childhood’s End, by Arthur C. Clarke
Foundation, by Isaac Asimov
Dune, by Frank Herbert
Man in the High Castle, by Philip K. Dick
Starship Troopers, by Robert A. Heinlein
Valis, by Philip K. Dick
Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
Gateway, by Frederik Pohl
Space Merchants, by Frederik Pohl
Earth Abides, by George R. Stewart
Cuckoo’s Egg, by C.J. Cherryh
Star Surgeon, by James White
The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, by Philip K. Dick
Radix, by A. A. Attanasio
2001: A Space Odyssey, by Arthur C. Clarke
Ringworld, by Larry Niven
A Case of Conscience, by James Blish
Last and First Man, by Olaf Stapledon
The Day of the Triffids, by John Wyndham
Way Station, by Clifford D. Simak
More Than Human, by Theodore Sturgeon
Gray Lensman, by E.E. “Doc” Smith
The Gods Themselves, by Isaac Asimov
The Left Hand of Darkness, by Ursula K. Le Guin
Behold the Man, by Michael Moorcock
Star Maker, by Olaf Stapledon
The War of the Worlds, by H. G. Wells
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, by Jules Verne
Heritage of Hastur, by Marion Zimmer Bradley
The Time Machine, by H. G. Wells
The Stars My Destination, by Alfred Bester
Slan, by A. E. Van Vogt
Neuromancer, by William Gibson
Ender’s Game, by Orson Scott Card
In Conquest Born, by C. S. Friedman
Lord of Light, by Roger Zelazny
Eon, by Greg Bear
Dragonflight, by Anne McCaffrey
Journey to the Center of the Earth, by Jules Verne
Stranger in a Strange Land, by Robert A. Heinlein
Cosm, by Gregory Benford
The Voyage of the Space Beagle, by A. E. Van Vogt
Blood Music, by Greg Bear
Beggars in Spain, by Nancy Kress
Omnivore, by Piers Anthony
I, Robot, by Isaac Asimov
Mission of Gravity, by Hal Clement
To Your Scattered Bodies Go, by Philip Jose Farmer
Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
The Man Who Folded Himself, by David Gerrold
1984, by George Orwell
The Strange Case of Dr. Jeckyl And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson
Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson
Flesh, by Philip Jose Farmer
Cities in Flight, by James Blish
Shadow of the Torturer, by Gene Wolfe
Startide Rising, by David Brin
Triton, by Samuel R. Delany
Stand on Zanzibar, by John Brunner
A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess
Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury
A Canticle for Leibowitz, by Walter M. Miller Jr.
Flowers for Algernon, by Daniel Keyes
No Blade of Grass, by John Christopher
The Postman, by David Brin
Dhalgren, by Samuel R. Delany
Berserker, by Fred Saberhagen
Flatland, by Edwin Abbott Abbott
Planiverse, by A. K. Dewdney
Dragon’s Egg, by Robert L. Forward
Downbelow Station, by C. J. Cherryh
Dawn, by Octavia E. Butler
The Puppet Masters, by Robert A. Heinlein
The Doomsday Book, by Connie Willis
Forever War, by Joe Haldeman
Deathbird Stories, by Harlan Ellison
Roadside Picnic, by Arkady Strugatsky
The Snow Queen, by Joan D. Vinge
The Martian Chronicles, by Ray Bradbury
Drowned World, by J.G. Ballard
Cat’s Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut
Red Mars, by Kim Stanley Robinson
Upanishads, by Various
Alice in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams
The Lathe of Heaven, by Ursula K. Le Guin
The Midwich Cuckoos, by John Wyndham
Mutant, by Henry Kuttner
Solaris, by Stanislaw Lem
Ralph 124C41+, by Hugo Gernsback
I Am Legend, by Richard Matheson
Timescape, by Gregory Benford
The Demolished Man, by Alfred Bester
War with the Newts, by Karl Kapek
Mars, by Ben Bova
Brain Wave, by Poul Anderson
Hyperion, by Dan Simmons
The Andromeda Strain, by Michael Crichton
Camp Concentration, by Thomas M. Disch
A Princess of Mars, by Edgar Rice Burroughs

Fantasy Series
Anything by R.A. Salvatore (he has several series/trilogies/quintents)
Any of the Shannara Series (Terry Brooks)
The Wheel of Time Series
The Fey Cycle – by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Tolkien (nuff said)
Hickman & Weiss Dragonlance Cycle
Hickamn & Weiss Deathgate Cycle
Anything by Raymond E. Feist
Michel Moorecock’s “Elric” and “Eternal Champion” series
Pretty much anything by Michael Crichton
Pratchett’s Diskworld Saga
Stephen R. Lawhead – Pendragon Cycle

Horror
1. Christopher Marlowe The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus
1592 Perhaps the best realization of the oft told story of selling out to the Devil and the consequences thereof.

2. William Shakespeare The Tragedy of Macbeth
1606 Crime, guilt, prophecy, witches, and madness in one of the essential works of the Western Canon.

3. John Webster The White Devil
1612 Supernatural badness (there are only two “good” characters in the story) with poisoning, murder, ghosts, vampires, witchcraft, Satanism, etc.

4. William Godwin Things As They Are; or: The Adventures of Caleb Williams
1794 Written by a political radical, wherein the terror is in the political situation.

5. Mattew Gregory Lewis The Monk: A Romance
1796 Censored in its time, perhapsthe first modern horror story in English.

6. E.T.A. Hoffmann The Best Tales of Hoffmann
1816 Epoch collection of dark fantasy, featuring the pre-Frankenstein story, “The Sand-Man”, exploring the horror of science and artificial life.

7. Jane Austen Northanger Abbey
1817 Subversively gentile tale of Gothic horror.

8. Mary Shelley Frankenstein
1818 The horror of man attempting to make Man, truly philosophical Gothic horror.

9. Charles Maturin Melmoth the Wanderer
1820 Tale of un unquiet spirit wandering the Earth, and encountering all manner of frightful, sometimes almost Swiftian, horror.

10. James Hogg The Privat Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner
1824 A Scottish Calvinist is lured to the Dark Side of persecution and murder by a doppelgänger.

11. Edgar Allen Poe Tales of Mystery and Imagination
1847 The source document in which Poe defines the horror that lurks in the human condition.

12. Nathaniel Hawthorne Twice-Told Tales
1842 The masterful American tales of horror, the supernatural, and even scence fiction.

13. Jeremias Gotthelf The Black Spider
1842 A woman reneges on a pact with the Devil, culminating in a horrible unnatural Birth.

14.Eugène Sue The Wandering Jew
1844 Retelling of the legend of the Jew cursed by Jesus.

15. Herman Melville The Confidence Man: His Masquerade
1857 A supernatural master of disguise who preys on the passengers of a Mississippi river boat. Deeply disturbing, if not overtly horrific.

16. J. Sheridan Le Fanu Uncle Silas: A Tale of Bertram-Haugh
1864 Classic ghost story of Gothic melodrama.

17. Robert Louis Stevenson The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
1886 Study of the conflicting good and evil duality of Man.

18. H. Rider Haggard She
1887 African explorers discover a Lost City ruled by an immortal white queen.

19. Robert W. Chambers The Queen in Yellow
1895 Collection of linked short stories built around a play which Dooms those who see it. Immensely influential, from Lovecraft to Raymond Chandler.

20. H.G. Wells The Island of Dr. Moreau
1896 The ur-biotech novel, the tale of a modern Frankenstein, wherein Darwin meets Swift meets Mary Shelley.

21. Bram Stoker Dracula
1897 Stoker didn’t invent the vampire story, but herein he did codify it as the essental 20th century horror archetype.

22. Henry James The Turn of the Screw
1898 Ghost stories which welcomed the elements of psychology into literature.

23. Joseph Conrad Heart of Darkness
1902 A man who goes to the end of the world to witness the power of the Dark Side taking over a man’s soul.

24. Bram Stoker The Jewel of Seven Stars
1903 Excellent tale of the supernatural possession of a girl by an ancient Egyptian queen.

25. M.R. James Ghost Stories of an Antiquary
1904 Perhaps the most influential writer on modern horror, his stories both suggestive and downright nasty.

26. Arthur Machen The House of Souls
1906 Masterful tales of often occult horror, explorations of the “secret of things”, the secret underpinnings of reality.

27. Algernon Blackwood John Silence, Physician Extrordinary
1908 Supernatural mysteries solved by a detective Doctor.

28. G.K. Chesterton The Man Who Was Thursday
1908 “A Nightmare”. A group of anarchists named after days of the week, led by the satanic Sunday.

29. William Hope Hodgson The House On the Borderland
1908 Guy nis projected into a vastly distant Dying Earth future, in a story that is one of the most important influences on H.P. Lovecraft.

30. Ambrose Bierce The Collected Works of Ambrose Bierce
1909 Another extremely influential work of suspence and horror, with such classic tales as “An Occurance At Owl Creek Bridge”.

31. Oliver Onions Widdershins
1911 (The title means “counterclockwise”). A collection of classic ghost stories with strong psychological components.

32. E.F. Benson The Horror Horn: The Best Horror Stories of E.F. Benson
1912-34 A lesser known (and under appreciated) but highly competent and important seminal horror writer.

33. David Lindsay A Voyage To Arcturus
1920 Earther is dumped by aliens into a strange interior journey on a surreal planet, a spiritual horror story.

34. Franz Kafka The Trial
1925 Horror springing from the disquieting New Politics of the twentieth century, the paranoia of totalitarian thought.

35. James Branch Cabell Something About Eve
1927 The eleventh part of Cabell’s gigantic metafiction, in which a guy strikes a deal with a demon so as to pursue Adventure, chiefly with dangerous women.

36. E.H. Visiak Medusa
1929 A madman on an abandoned pirate ship leads his rescuers towards monstrous Evil.

37. Guy Endore The Werewolf of Paris
1933 Classic twentieth century take on the werewolf archetype.

38. Marjorie Bowen The Last Bouquet: Some Twilight Tales
1933 Classic ghost stories of a romance novel-ish cast.

39. Alexander Laing The Cadaver of Gideaon Wyck
1934 Bizarre medical experiments and demented happenings, in an influential early medical thriller.

40. Sir Hugh Walpole (ed) A Second Century of Creepy Stories
1937 The hands down best horror anthology of stories to this point in time. Many, many classics.

41. C.S. Lewis The Dark Tower and The Day After Judgement
1938 An incomplete novel without an ending, of a parallel world featuring both Lewis himself as narrator and Ransom (from Perelandra).

42. Dalton Trumbo Johnny Got His Gun
1939 Blinded, deafened and made speechless by a battlefield injury, a quadruple amputee who can still reason faces being put on display as a carnival sideshow lesson on the horrors of war.

43. H.P Lovecraft The Outsider and Others
1939 The first book of Lovecraft’s stories, a collection spanning his entire career that is one of the most important horror works of the twentieth century.

44. Clark Ashton Smith Out of Space and Time
1942 The second important Arkham House collection, an excellent selection of stories from Smith’s imagined worlds.

45. Fritz Leiber Conjure Wife
1943 Great story of witchcraft among faculty wives.

46. Cornell Woolrich Night Has a Thousand Eyes
1945 The most supernatural of Woolrich’s stories, with a detective trying to prevent a Prophecy from occuring.

47. H.P. Lovecraft and August Derleth The lurker at the Threshold
1945 Mostly Derleth’s work, the systematic portrayal of the Cthulhu Mythos. Eldritch.

48. Paul Bailey Deliver Me From Eva
1946 Lawyer marries the daughter of a Mad Scientist and all sorts of horrific events follow. Tongue in cheek (probably…) pulp-ish fun.

49. Boris Karloff (ed) And the Darkness Falls
1946 Extensive 1940’s collection of classic tales.

50. August derleth (ed) The Sleeping and the Dead
1947 Excellent collection of bothe classic UK ghost stories and some of the best of the American Weird Tales school.

51. Walter Van Tilburg Clark Track of the Cat 1949 An really interesting Gothic Western that touches on mythology and psychology.

52. Sarban The Sound oif His Horn
1952 Tour de force story of an alternate world of a Nazi victory.

53. William Golding Lord of the Flies
1954 Crashlanded schoolboys form a Civilization that reverts to barbarism.

54. Richard Matherson I Am Legend
1954 Filmed as The Omega Man, a moldern recasting of the vampire legend, as aregular guy battles the Things that were once his fellow humans.

55. Ray Bradbury The October Country
1955 Tne definitive easily availabler collection of Bradbury’s early horror work, culled from Arkham House’s Dark Carnival.

56. Joseph Payne Brennan Nine Horrors and a Dream
1958 Classic collection of Weird Tales material, originally published by Arkham House.

57. Robert Bloch Psycho
1959 The important modern codification of the pscho killer archetype.

58. Nigel Kneale Quatermass and the Pit
1959 Great science fictional horror of a buries five million year old Martian spaceship in London.

59. H.P. Lovecraft Cry Horror!
1959 Re-titling of the classic Ther Lurking Fear, which introducede H.P. to the UK popular reading public.

60. Shirley Jackson The Haunting of Hill House
1959 Excellent and highly influential (especially to film) story of a bunch of folks spending a night in a haunted house.

61. Philip K. Dick The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch
1964 Wildly psychedelic story of bread-and-circuses drugs that create artificial realities.

62. Jerzy kosinski The Painted Bird
1965 A Boy alone wanders the horrors of Nazi dominated Europe.

63. J.G. Ballard The Crystal World
1966 One of four metaphorical disaster stories by Ballard in the early 60’s, about a world turning to Stone.

64. Robert Aikman Sub Rosa
1968 A very Interesting set of ghost stories which feature ambiguity and disturbingly strange events.

65. Kingsley Amis The Green Man
1969 A pub owner starts seeing ghosts, in a story that is both literate and an inspiration (a bit) of John Cleese’s Basil Fawlty.

66. Anthony Boucher The Compleat Werewolf, and Other Stories of Fantasy and Science Fiction
1969 The cream of Boucher’s early 1940’s work for John W. Campbell, an excellent collection of wide-ranging stories.

67. John Gardner Grendel
1971 The tale of Beowulf, told from the standpoit of the monster. Excellent fantasy/tragedy.

68. William Peter Blatty The Exorcist
1971 The influential story that launched a thousand Catholic Fear horror stories and films.

69. John Brunner The Sheep Look Up
1972 The seminal ecological horror story of a ruined Earth.

70. Manly Wade Wellman Worse Things Waiting
1973 Beautiful illustrated edition from Carcosa Press of Wellman’s best work fro the pulps.

71.Robert Marasco Burnt Offerings
1973 New Yorkers move to the country and find themselves in a strange and disturbing house with a Little Old Lady Who Lives Upstairs.

72. Stephen King ‘Salems’s Lot
1975 King’s second book, in which he explores the Dracula material.

73. Harlan Ellison Deathbird Stories
1975 The essential Ellison stories from the 60’s and 70’s, in which Harlan gives the reader advice on how to read the book.

74. Hugh B. Cave Murgunstrumm and Others
1977 Awesome collection. Forty years of the best of Cave’s Weird Tales era output (including a couple of Cthulhu pieces).

75. Bernard Taylor Sweetheart, Sweetheart
1977 Supernatural murder mystery involving a malevolent female spirit.

76. John Farris All Heads Turn When the Hunt Goes By
1977 A seminal treatment of voodoo in a modern horror setting.

77. Stephen King The Shining
1977 Tour de force story of a writer’s descent into madness in a haunted hotel.

78. William Hjortsberg Falling Angel
1978 The basis for the film Angel Heart, an excellent urbanization of voodoo themes.

79. Whitely Streiber The Wolfen
1978 Interesting re-construction of the werewolf theme in an urban setting.

80. David Morrell The Totem
1979 A Wyoming policeman encounters the supernatural in a rationalized look at The Undead.

81. Peter Straub Ghost Story
1979 A successful modern homage to the classic ghost stories of James, Poe, etc.

82. Jonathan Carroll The Land of Laughs
1980 Couple researching an author find his mometown may be the creation of his fantasies. One of the greatest modern fantasies.

83. Richard Laymon The Cellar
1980 Violent, nasty story of a House with a Beast, a story both disturbing and subtle that takes a hard look at what is truly horrifying. The first of the Beast House stories.

84. Thomas Harris Red Dragon
1981 Magnificent and important work in the modern serial killer genre vs. the FBI Guy theme, which introduces Dr. Hannibal Lector.

85. F. Paul Wilson The Keep
1981 Lovecraftian story of an ancient horror unleashed by Nazi soldiers in a Romanian castle.

86. Deniis Etchison The Dark Country
1982 The essental collection of Etchison’s finely crafted American Gothic fiction.

87. Karl Edward Wagner In a Lonely Place
1983 Excellent collection of Wagner’s non-barbarian horror fiction

88. Tim Powers The Anubis Gates
1983 Truly great time travel thriller involving Coleridges London, ancient Egypt, and Souther California.

89. Robert Irwin The Arabian Nightmare
1983 A twisted Arabian Nights story along the line of The Sargossa Manuscript.

90. Iain Banks The Wasp Factory
1984 Horrific incidents in the lives of Scottish islanders, highly controversial at the time of it’s release. Banks’ first book.

91. T.E.D. Klein The Ceremonies
1984 Four people are fooled into easing the way for The Return Of The Elder Gods.

92. Robert Holdstock Mythago Wood
1984 Fantastical pocket Universe in an ancient patch of magical forest where Time and Space are distorted.

93. Michael Bishop Who Made Stevie Crye?
1984 Young widow and freelance writer encounters a weird typewriter repairman, and (often humorous) horror happens.

94. Dan Simmons The Song of Kali
1985 American poet in India encounters the Kali cult.

95. Clive Barker The Damnation Game
1985 Modern deconstruction of the Faust story in the Barker style.

96. Peter Ackroyd Hawksmoor
1985 Assistant to Sir Christopher Wren (based on the architect Nicholas Hawsmoor) melds his Satanist beliefs into the design of London churches, tied into a modern murder case involving an Inspector Hawksmoor and a 300 year old doppelganger.

97. Lisa Tuttle A Nest of Nightmares
1986 Great collection of Tuttle’s feminist and domestic horror stories from the early 80’s.

98. Charles L. Grant The Pet
1986 Confused adolescent copes by being able to will Creature of the Imagination into existence.

99. Robert McCammon Swan Song
1987 Post-nuclear war quest story even more ambitious than King’s The Stand.

100. Ramsey Campbell Dark Feasts
1987 The author’s own choice for the cream of his horror story output, an excellent collection.

1. British writer, born 1964, first name Joanne, author of “The
Chamber of Secrets” (1998).

2. American writer (1920-1999), author of “The Godfather” (1969).

3. British novelist, born 1937, who wrote “The Stud” and “The
Bitch”.

4. American author (1902-1968) who won the 1940 Pulitzer Prize for
his novel “The Grapes of Wrath”.

5. American writer, born 1931, author of “The Bonfire of the
Vanities” and “A Man in Full”.

6. British novelist, born 1949, author of “The Moronic Inferno”
and “Einstein’s Monsters”.

7. American novelist (1789-1851), author of “The Deerslayer” and
“The Last of the Mohicans”.

8. Indian writer, born 1952, whose novels include “A Suitable Boy”
and “An Equal Music”.

9. American writer, born 1947, author of “The Shining” and
“Misery”.

10. British novelist, born 1954 in Japan, whose novels include
“The Remains of the Day” and “The Unconsoled”.