31 Days of Halloween: Day 11

Another day of Halloween fun! Mostly just tea and a story today, but I am building up to some bigger things later in the week...

Today's Story

Today's story was 'The Sentence' by J Kaden-Bandrowski. I think this is the first one in the book that I wasn't at least a bit familiar with. It's not exactly a cheerful one - more evil that men do than supernatural hi-jinks (not that I need hi-jinks).

Today's Tea

Today's tea was Haunted Elixir from Rosie Lea Tea, another apple flavoured black tea but this time with a hint of cinnamon. This is a really nice black tea, with just subtle hints of apple & cinnamon. A very enjoyable brew, even if it is haunted.

31 Days of Halloween: Day 10

Continuing with my Halloween month (though a bit less intense than yesterday)... I just had my daily horror story and seasonal tea today...

Today's Story

Today's story was 'Lot No. 249' by Arthur Conan Doyle, a creepy story about 'the great terror of Abercrombie Smith' (that may or may not be a resurrected mummy).

Today's Tea

Today's tea was H.P. Lovecraft from The Literary Tea Company, a pumpkin black tea with toffee, liquorice and the fear of the unknown. H.P. Lovecraft smells and tastes quite strongly of toffee, which is actually surprisingly nice for a black tea. Mmm... eldritch.

Stories to be Read with the Lights On 10: Pin Money by James Cross

The next story in my Hitchcock reread is 'Pin Money' by James Cross. This is another one that feels very familiar. I don't think I've read it again since I was a teenager, but it feels like I might have read/seen something similar. It's the second one where I've wondered if there was a Twilight Zone episode with this plot.

Cross's story about two men who use nefarious means to get a promotion has a really satisfying ending that clearly stuck with me (it came back to me as soon as I started reading the story). But I did also immediately recall being a bit creeped out by the way both men use their wives to try and secure the boss's favour. And frustrated by the way the wives accept this.

But the clearest memory I have related to this story is that I'm sure I read it shortly after I first got interested in stories about Dr John Dee. I'd read a novel about Dee around the same time, I think. 'Pin Money' has an odd little version of Dee (or at least a character called 'Dr Dee') who is very much like the sort of goofy genie characters that crop up in some Twilight Zone episodes.

Isn't weird which stories are familiar on this reread and which ones I've completely forgotten? There doesn't seem to be much of a pattern to it!

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