And yet you know about it. So does every teenaged boy in the western world. Less popular with other cultures is the promise of fountains and limpid po...
He's not shown entering the subway station, inserting his token, going through the turnstile and down the escalator, but he gets on the subway; he nev...
Because they're historical occurrences. He's experiencing those deaths as they happened. Why do you think I chickened out on the girl burning to death...
The transference came through beautifully. I particularly liked the transference of concern for the therapist to the young woman with an injured finge...
Most people don't recall most of their dreams - only the last one as we wake up. But they can still have an effect. Yes, I should have paid more atten...
Thank you. But I don't think I could face writing that many death scenes. And I hate to imagine what kind of gibbering homicidal trainwreck the MC wil...
You're far too generous, both to the hapless protagonist and to me. PS Young Peter and his brothers were playing hide-and-seek. All quite innocent; hi...
Exactly! How wonderful of you say 'experience' rather than 'dream. I thought the final quotation was the punch-line; that a thousand deaths was enough...
It's in the final quotation, which you identified. As for the association of night experiences to external cues, that's kind of fuzzy. The WWI soldier...
True. I felt I owed Rod Serling a nod; Shakespeare could go it alone. Also wanted to alert the reader that something spooky will happen. Yes, just as ...
I think another reading is a good idea. It may be difficult to sort out who is where when something important happens, but I know Greta is not at that...
Oh, yuck! I hate white-on-black text. Not to mention tiny screens. It's very hard to read that way. Never mind - it will all come clear soon enough. O...
Which are the exception? Miracle means something not brought about by natural means: magic. Okay. Catholic sides can be very persuasive. Certainly, th...
I don't think any of the characters consider the father's behaviour abusive or shocking. This is not taking place in our sanitized modern world; it's ...
All of religion is based on magic. Nature exists, transpires, changes, proceeds - nature is alive, while gods are entirely imaginary projections of hu...
That's already happened. Getting a second chance at life made her resolve to be a better person, but it's too late. The same bad roof that killed her ...
Beautiful describes the scene itself. If a very good artist painted it, everyone who saw it would probably think 'beautiful'. But the more profound pa...
We should find out pretty soon, when the author comments. Re which, have I mentioned that i usually run a mile when vampires are mentioned, but this s...
I think the Observers are angels or something supernatural, who are supposed to report higher^^up on the movements of russian citizens being stalked b...
Why do you think Ivan is a priest? My impression was that he's an ordinary guy looking for an Orthodox church. It's Sunday, is why the business distri...
i don't understand 'religion emerged after magic'. Emerged from what? What kind of magic precedes it and how is that magic distinct from religion? All...
Power imposes belief. at least on the lower orders. the priestly class tells everyone else their gods' demands, and the faithful obey. the system is e...
Dartmunder beer. I used to guzzle wine and sip scotch, but parts of my deteriorating system can't take them anymore. Worse: I've lost my palate for ch...
I only wish more non-writing posters took an interest in the stories; the critiques would be more diverse. Can we think of any way to popularize this ...
I think observers usually put this question the wrong way around. Philosophies and belief systems don't influence social organization. It's how people...
I wonder about that. As i understand the most direct notions of what we might call divinity, the early people who placed a superhuman figure at the ce...
what the heck is Disco Elysium? .... oh. Hm. amnesiac, alcoholic detective..... Gaiman and Adams... 'most literary game... sure seems worth a look! th...
that's what i assumed; the extremism is all in his head. he wouldn't know what to do with a stick of dynamite if he stumbled over it in the street. ho...
it's a little confusing in places, especially the supernatural element. there is nothing so cliche here as bomb strapped to chest. the whole story is ...
he isn't. he's just an ordinary handyman; all his islamism is in his head. a wannabe. if he'd blown himself up, the organs wouldn't be much use. he's ...
if i guess at authorship, i don't publish my guesses, since they usually turn out to be wrong. i never before had a problem choosing a favourite and a...
a practical joke or bout of boisterous play often engaged in by british schoolboys. the protagonist is a professional entertainer named Larkin; larkin...
i meant before that. preamble; interaction leading up to and during the first expedition. all very sketchy. i had a little trouble, too, with a geolog...
sorry, no. i got that there was something sexual between their being introduced and his abandonment of her body in a crypt, but i've no idea what happ...
every story tells us something about its subject - whether we understand it at the time or not. in some of these discussions, we get more information ...
yes, the love angle. when and how does desire to be with morph into desire to possess and then desire to consume? she saw him in the store and wanted ...
there is a lot more going on here than a christmas story. the two main characters are a reclusive aging actress and a lonely, frustrated young man, bo...
it wasn't explicitly stated. in the prevailing global culture, none of us isfully functional, but most of us cope, most of the time - well or badly, d...
death was the only way they could be reunited. the cop killed his dog, as surely as his father had killed his own prospects of ever being whole or ful...
only, it's neither open nor a conversation. it's a lopsided relationship in which the needy, insecure person cedes his own power to the person in cont...
a friend of mine was in therapy for two years, and would never have dared mention the shrink's bandaged finger. it's like a child's relationship to a ...
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