Quotes of Note: "Comfort Me with Apples" by Catherynne M. Valente

Quotes of note from Comfort Me with Apples by Catherynne M. Valente:

(I read this on my iPad via Kindle, so page numbers are suspect. Thank you, public library!)

"Silver hair ... is the medal won by wisdom." (19 percent)

"A surprise, even a little one, means a change in the world... ." (22 percent)

"When he thuds, the world listens and gets out of his way. That is her whole understanding of men." (26 percent)

"There is nothing better in the afternoon than a meal and a bit of music." (27 percent)

"It is always a blessing and a relief to be spoken for." (28 percent)

"I am happy... . How could I be otherwise? I am fed, I am housed, I am busy, I am loved." (29 percent)

"It is such a wonderful thing in this world, to have friends." (31 percent)

"Holidays are therefore superfluous." (31 percent)

"Suffering of any kind is and shall be considered contraband." (31 percent)

"A freelancer knows not the meaning of the words day shift or night shift!" (32 percent)

"Honest work banishes bad memories with such efficiency!" (33 percent)

"[S]he is not lying. Not yet." (42 percent)

"Be a good neighbor and you will have good neighbors!" (47 percent)

"You are the life, but I am the party." (72 percent)

"[I]t feels so good to be held, it feels so good to be spoken to like she is capable and wise, to hear her life gain weight, fed by [another]. Fed by being seen." (72 percent)

"Solidarity is a hell of a thing." (75 percent)

"You are beautiful and convincing too... ." (77 percent)

"The truth hurts so much better." (79 percent)

"[N]o one should have to live without the things they love." (81 percent)

"If I do not deserve happiness, who does?" (84 percent)

"Your Father is my Father too. He made me too." (85 percent)

"This is the beginning of the universe and I make the rules." (89 percent)

Book Review: "Dark Sojourns" by Beth H. Adams

Dark Sojourns by Beth H. Adams (Secret Pleasures, 2002)

This 2002 Dark Shadows gen novella published by Secret Pleasures Press “is intended for entertainment of the fans of Dark Shadows, and is not intended to infringe on copyrights and trademarks held by others.” I believe I ordered it from Agent with Style about a decade ago. Agent with Style—once a wonderful source for hard copies of fan fiction—seems to have stopped operating in 2015 (their domain name expired in 2020). Regardless, I finally got around to reading Adams’s 138-page novella, which is well written, well printed, and spiral bound with a couple of pieces of photo collage artwork. As fan fiction goes, it’s relatively clean reading—well edited—and I only remember a couple typographical errors.

Barnabas Collins and Willie Loomis have left Collinsport, Maine, moving down the east coast eventually to Augusta, Georgia, where they meet their neighbor, a friendly single mother who works as a plastic surgeon. The novella is largely a love story, perhaps presaging that of Twilight, with Collins and Loomis becoming fond of the mother and her 5-year-old daughter. (Collins finally expresses his appreciation for Loomis’s caretaking and service.) Collins and the mother eventually fall in love. But Collins is torn: between his need for human blood and love for a woman, and between Anjelique’s witch curse and the hope that if he commits “an act of selfless love,” Josette will be returned to him.

On one level, the premise of the novella seems to be that the only bad thing about Dark Shadows is that Collins is a vampire. What if he weren’t? I’m not sure he’d even be interesting were that the case. Moreso, however, it’s the story of a love reclaimed and reunited. The idea of a reincarnated Josette, of Collins finally being able to find love after 400 years are very human desires and tensions worth exploring, even if their resolution effectively ends what turned out to be the best part of the television program. After all, Dan Curtis’s creation admittedly plagues the writer still.

Adams populates the story with several other interesting characters, including a coworker named Ty and his grandmother, Mignon, who practices “a bit of voodoo.” There are also several notable scenes. In one, Collins saves his new love from an attacker in a parking lot. In another, she confronts him about slaking his thirst on young prostitutes even though he’d promised not to do so. Most husbands aren’t guilty of such a severe betrayal, but its parallel to spousal infidelity resonated. And the surgeon channels her inner Victor Frankenstein as she tries to save Collins from himself and his dark desires, too.

A fun read—and better than most fan fiction I’ve encountered online.

EC-Like Dynamism

Chamber of Darkness #2 (Marvel, December 1969, 15 cents)
"Forewarned Is Four-Armed!" Editor: Stan Lee, Script: Neal Adams and Roy Thomas, Art: Marie Severin, Inks: Herb Trimpe and Tom Sutton.

Hosted by Headstone P. Gravely, this horror anthology comic has never been collected. The opening seven-page story features the classic "insane man tells his story to the authorities" structure, with an expected—though still fun—twist. There are several art highlights, including the second panel on p. 1, the EC-like dynamism of p. 2's final panel, pp. 4-5 in their entirety, and the hands on the last panel of p. 6.



"The Face of Fear" Story by: Stan Lee, Script by: Archie Goodwin, Art by: Syd Shores, and Lettering by: Jean Izzo.

Long-haired Freddy Garricks sees a creepy face in the mirror while shaving and flees his parents' apartment, only to avoid a disastrous elevator mishap. Will he see the face again? Will he ever shave? Did the vision almost cause the accident, or avert it? Who dares speculate?



"The Day of the Red Death" Editor: Stan Lee, Scripter: Roy Thomas, Artist: Don Heck, Lettered by: Sam Rosen.

Hosted by none other than Smilin' Stan, who name drops Saki, Lovecraft, and Ambrose Bierce, this story updates an Edgar Allen Poe classic. Weaponized poison gas has "devastated the globe," and eight wealthy people—including the arms manufacturer responsible—play cards to determine who will be "king of a newborn planet." Six men vie for the affection of two surviving women until one of the men is overcome by guilt. The ending is fine comeuppance.

The stories are decent enough, and the art is fine—but this anthology comic falls a little flat. Regardless, I'm glad it existed. I wish there were more like it today.

Availability: This series has not been collected. Though dealing primarily with pre-Code horror comics, we recommend the books The Horror! The Horror!: Comic Books the Government Didn't Want You to Read! and Four Color Fear: Forgotten Horror Comics of the 1950s.