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Weirdest playlist yet.

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Yep, but it's not going to be the weirdest. I've been dipping in and out of some really weird shit recently and some of this stuff just has to end up on some future playlists. But not necessarily anytime soon - don't want to completely alienate my Riders!

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The only way to alienate this rider is to start being boring and predictable ... which is to say, by using AI to write your posts! Bring on the weird humanness!

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The Bus is an AI-free zone - and always will be. After all, the Mos Eisley cantina accepted anyone- rogues, smugglers, aliens, etc. - but not droids. That's The Bus: everyone's welcome to ride, but not droids.

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May 4, 2023Liked by Bryan Padrick

Not sure if Wilkie Collins falls in the “weird fiction” category, but “Lady in White” is definitely unsettling. And if anyone has opinions about “Moonstone”, we can talk after I finish reading it!

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May 4, 2023Liked by Bryan Padrick

Yes! Wilkie Collins “Lady in White!” Another author I love!

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Collins is great - The Moonstone is a favourite.

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I think Collins is certainly 'weird.' And, yes - when you've finished The Moonstone, let's talk! My sister-in-law gave that to me years ago and I don't know anyone else who's read it!

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May 4, 2023Liked by Bryan Padrick

Just read the footnote...and please write about Ambrose Bierce. His life (at least the end) might have been stranger than his fiction!

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Yes - Bierce is definitely on the list. By the way ... do you remember watching a film (like, proper reel-to-reel) in elementary school of 'An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge'? I have a vivid recollection of this film - in black and white - being shown in the BES little theatre (or whatever it was called). And also, while we're on it, a couple of rather harrowing ABC Afterschool Specials ...

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May 16, 2023Liked by Bryan Padrick

I do remember seeing “Owl” and on a somewhat related note, I mentioned the BES media center to someone recently!

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I was talking about the BES media centre recently, too - In particular, the way it was so cool in the summer. I remember it always being several degrees cooler than the rest of the school - I guess because of the way the air circulated through it? I was also reminded of that news broadcast we did - and Mr Boatwright's Nacirema project. I'm teaching two classes of Year 7s (6th graders) English at my new school and was talking about some of the projects we used to do. I also teach Year 13s (12th graders), so it's quite the range ... YA lit on one end; Hamlet on the other ...

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May 4, 2023Liked by Bryan Padrick

Nice find on the Goodbye Stranger cover video! I love Dave's guitar lead image "Ponging" around the screen! Talented musicians skillfully and creatively cover a great song.

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I know! It's a great video - it's amazing what's out there. Not only the musicianship, but the quality of the filming is great, too. Can you imagine what we could have done with this technology in the 70s/80s?! Actually, scratch that. I know exactly what I would have done ...

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May 4, 2023Liked by Bryan Padrick

Oh, boy oh, boy, you’ve mentioned ALL my favorite “scary story” writers! I revel in works by Lovecraft, Blackwood, James and Machen! And Lord Dunsany! And Hawthorne, Bierce and Poe! For quite a few years now, I’ve preferred reading books from about 1850-1940. So many later authors seem unable to capture my interest the way the earlier authors do. A big part of it for me is the language. Then that sense of place and period, which has a mystery and spell all its own. And the unpredictability of the stories! Great stuff. Thanks for this little treat this morning. Just finished a few Blackwood short stories in an omnibus book. Going back for more with my morning tea. 🫖

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I am so glad you liked this issue! That it dropped into your inbox while you were actually reading Blackwood seems rather serendipitous ... almost ... weird! I completely agree with your comment about the language creating the atmosphere. You can pick up one of these stories and - immediately - you're in that turn of the century world. My question is: 100 years from now, what atmosphere will readers of today's literature feel? Will a conversation on a Substack equivalent be discussing the 'feeling I get when I read a story from 2023'? Which is, of course, at its heart a weird question. Glad you've chosen to get on The Bus!

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Let's add King Crimson's 'The Mincer' (1974) to your list of weird tracks. I was an early and often Lovecraft fan, but the most intimate portrait comes from a collection of correspondence with Willis Conover, who was a major radio personality in adult life but in the interwar period a young person attracted to 'Weird Tales', the now highly collectible serial. https://www.amazon.com/Lovecraft-Last-Master-Horror-Words/dp/0815412126 Stephen King has often acknowledged Lovecraft as his literary avatar, but mine , H.G. Wells, was also someone who put a creepy tale together quite well himself. Wells' creep was in some ways even more disturbing, as it always inveigled itself into the quite human condition, implying that we humans are, after all, the scariest of creatures in existence. 'The Remarkable Case of Davidson's Eyes', 'The Plattner Story', 'The Inexperienced Ghost', and 'The Stolen Body' are all good examples of authentic weirdness, to which Wells' preferred the phrase 'the unexpected'.

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Yes - H. G. Wells is a brilliant writer. And certainly weird. As for King Crimson, I've never been much of a fan - which is odd, because by all accounts they're right up my street. But, other than owning an obligatory copy of In the Court of the Crimson King, I'm not au fait with much of their work. I am, however, going to be checking out 'The Mincer' - I'll let you know how that goes. And thanks for all of the suggestions!

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May 4, 2023Liked by Bryan Padrick

Oh, H G Wells! Great writer, memorable tales!

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