Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood S1E20: “Father Before the Grave”
Probably the most literal title so far, given that the previous episode ended - and this one opens - with the Father standing in front of a grave.
Dr. Stone S1E1: “Stone World”
I have a friend who's into Dr. Stone. Multiple friends, I think. I only saw bits and pieces, but from what I gather its about a postapocalyptic future in which everyone has been turned into stone by something. A select few have unpetrified long after the fact and are trying to make their way in an empty world. Also, there's a major subplot involving chemistry? I think? Anyway, it's a very recently adapted series, having first premiered less than a year ago, and still ongoing.
"The Transition of Juan Romero," "The Hoard of the Wizard-Beast," and "The Slaying of the Monster"
And here it is. My last Lovecraft story post. Three short pieces, two of them co-written, one of them a Lovecraft original.
"The Transition of Juan Romero" was written in 1919, so this is another early, pre-Sonya piece. Not as early as "The Mysterious Ship," but still. It was published in 1944 by Arkham House, the tribute-publisher created by August Derleth and several other Lovecraft friends and admirers after Lovecraft's death.
30 Rock S6E9: Leap Day
This review was commissioned by @Aris Katsaris. It was supposed to go up on leap day, almost exactly a week ago, but I've spent the last couple of weeks traveling a lot and having only intermittent internet access, so this was the best I could do.
...which is kind of funny in retrospect, because this episode itself only exists because the 30 Rock writers missed their chance to do a Christmas or New Years episode, and had to settle for doing a leap day special of all things instead. So, in that way maybe I'm just doing justice to the spirit of the episode. And of 30 Rock as a whole, really.
"The Mysterious Ship" and "Old Bugs"
"The Mysterious Ship" was written in 1902. No, this isn't going to be a joke post like "The Little Glass Bottle." While nobody writes anything GOOD at age twelve, I feel like that's around the age where literary talent starts to take shape and show signs of coherence and thoughtfulness. So, there's a chance this might actually show some early seeds of things we'll recognize.
Meanwhile, "The Beast in the Cave," the second story Lovecraft ever published, was written just three years after this. So, we've seen Lovecraft's writing as of age seven, and as of age fifteen. Let's see how his abilities developed during the time between those ages!
Serial Experiments Lain E2: “Girls, Layer 2”
We return to the psychedelic and terrifying near future world of Lain, a teenaged girl who is either being haunted by some kind of cyberspace ghost creature that claims to be a dead acquaintance of hers, or simply going insane. When we last saw her, she had just come face to face with the apparition on her way home from school. Begin.
“Poetry and the Gods”
This story, it seems, is actually not solely a Lovecraft creation. HPL collaborated with another United Amateur author named Anna Crofts, schoolteacher, poet, and classicist.
“The White Ship”
They're following a color-changing bird now. That's a really cool mental image.
“Beyond the Wall of Sleep”
Unlike the previous stories, this is one that I've already read, though not since my teens. I wish I could say I recall "Beyond the Wall of Sleep" fondly, but unfortunately I remember it as the first time in my life that I looked up from a book with a dazed, haunted look in my eyes and muttered "What the fuck did I just read?"
“Memory”
The United Co-Operative sounds like some massive international agency. Actually, it was a tiny, short-lived side project undertaken by Lovecraft and a few of his new friends from The Vagrant. Lovecraft was one of the joint editors of this ostentatiously named writing mini-zine, and this short vignette of his appeared in its first issue in 1919.
“The Beast In The "Cave”
Let's see if fifteen year old Lovecraft can outwrite Christopher Paolini; my money is on "yes," but we'll find out.
“A Reminiscence of Doctor Samuel Johnson”
"Samuel Johnson" is another story I'd never heard of until now, so this will be another blind readthrough. It was published in 1917, in the next fall issue of The United Amateur. Unlike "The Alchemist" this one was written in the months leading up to publication, and was intended for United Amateur from the beginning.
“The Alchemist"
Lovecraft’s first ever published story, featuring crumbling castles, morose noble scions, evil sorcerers, and discount Edgar Allan Poe phrasing.