Stories to be Read with the Lights On 18: Payment Received by Robert L. McGrath

I don't know why it's taking me so long to reread this book. Obviously, it's a collection that just wants to be savoured! Well, anyway, the next story is 'Payment Received' by Robert L. McGrath, so time to jump back in. And this one was very familiar. Have I read the story somewhere more recently? It felt like maybe I have.

'Payment Received' is only a short little story (about a slightly strange young boy and a debt to be repaid), but it felt very familiar. I know I've read it before - the details came back to me from the very first paragraph. The question is... am I remembering it from reading this anthology in the 90s? or have I read McGrath's story in another anthology more recently? I genuinely have no idea!

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Imbolc: Day 1

We're beginning our Year of Celebrating the Seasons this week, with seven days of Imbolc celebrations. We've already come up with a couple of (hopefully) new traditions that we're looking forward to, but today was all about enjoying the last bits of winter and some tiny glimpses of spring.

Imbolc Lights

One of our new traditions (we think) is keeping some of the Christmas lights up until Imbolc, to keep the winter darkness at bay. I know some people keep their Christmas tree up and decorated until Imbolc, but that seemed a bit much for us. We've just kept a little corner of festive light to see us through.

The Haunting Season

I wanted something seasonally appropriate to read in the period between Christmas and Imbolc, and so I chose The Haunting Season. This is a collection of short stories that I skim-read for my radio show in December but didn't get to enjoy properly over the Christmas period. It seemed just right for the wintery gap between our seasonal festivities.

Snowdrops

I spent a lovely half hour with a friend today, snowdrop-spotting in our local park.

French Toast

I don't know if this is seasonal or not (since I've happily ordered it at other times of the year), but we celebrated our successful snowdrop hunt with French toast at You, Me and Tea! It certainly felt festive.

Imbolc Earrings

Continuing the snowdrop theme, my first set of Imbolc earrings for the year were a pair of cute little snowdrops. I'm building up my seasonal earring collections, so I don't have quite as many for Imbolc as I do for Halloween and Christmas. I'm getting there though!

Starve Acre

It was actually quite difficult to find a seasonally-appropriate book to read this week, as most wintery fiction is set around Christmas/winter solstice. I've chosen Andrew Michael Hurley's Starve Acre, as I believe it's set in February. Hurley has a story in The Haunting Season as well, so I might have to watch that he doesn't just become my go-to seasonal fiction writer!

Imbolc Tea

I'm not going to go all out like I do for Halloween and Christmas, but I did want to have at least one Imbolc-appropriate tea. I've got Snow Buds, a white tea from Tugboat in Truro. It's a 'treasure of a tea', apparently. I think it's very flavourful for a white tea, which is no bad thing at all.

Stories to be Read with the Lights On 17: Killer on the Turnpike by William P. McGivern

I didn't finish my Hitchcock reread in 2021, and it's taken a bit of time to get back to it in 2022... but I'm not giving up yet! The next story in the book is 'Killer on the Turnpike' by William P. McGivern. I thought the title of this one seemed familiar, but I wasn't sure when I started it if I remembered it from before. It's the longest one yet, so there was plenty of time for it to come back to me.

I'm not sure at all if I remembered this one. Every so often I got a little glimmer of almost-déjà vu (like when the killer tips his coffee cup back to get the sugar at the bottom), but it didn't come back much more than that. Admittedly, the bit about the killer having a plan of how to get off the turnpike did seem a bit familiar, so I'm pretty sure I sort of remembered this one, even if the details were very fuzzy.

Even if I don't properly remember reading it the first time round, I enjoyed Killer on the Turnpike. It's a proper cat-and-mouse tale of... well... a killer on a turnpike, and it captures the atmosphere and conditions of the road in a really compelling way.

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