Update: Swapped out the ouzo for vodka, added a squeeze of that single fresh lime Mum gave me the other week, and . . . that’s a pretty good variation on a Moscow Mule, hey.
I'm a truck driver, so I go through a lot of audiobooks. Horror, mystery, and thrillers are usually my go to because they help keep me engaged during long drives.
I had heard a lot of good things about The Troop, and I was actually pretty interested at the beginning. The buildup to the scoutmaster's death was well done, and Nick Cutter is definitely good at describing body horror. Those early chapters had me wondering where the story was going.
But after that, the book just lost me.
A lot of the backstories for the boys felt way too long, and I found myself wanting the story to get back to what was happening on the island. Instead of building tension, those sections slowed everything down for me.
The parasites also didn't really do much for me as a horror threat. They were gross, no question about that, but I never found them particularly scary. Most of the horror came from how disgusting they were rather than any real sense of fear or suspense.
I also wasn't very interested in the murderous kid subplot. It felt out of place compared to everything else that was going on. The boys were already stranded on an island dealing with a parasite outbreak, which should have been more than enough conflict on its own. Adding a kid who was already a psychopath before everything started felt unnecessary and took away from the main threat rather than adding to it.
I kept waiting for the story to pick up again, but it never really did. By the end, I wasn't excited to see what happened next. I was just ready for it to be over.
I can see why people who enjoy extreme body horror like this book, and there are definitely some memorable scenes. It just wasn't what I was looking for. If you're into gore and graphic descriptions, you'll probably get more out of it than I did. If you're looking for a horror novel that's going to keep you on the edge of your seat, this one might not scratch the itch.
I watched The Vampire Lestat's season premiere episode and I'm somewhat intrigued, though I don't know if I'll be able to handle so much undistilled Lestat through a whole season. Only one way to find out.
+++
Today I managed to get back to the cellular store 52 miles away near my dad's home that I got my iPhone 17 from six months ago, and they helped me re-sync my phone to my car so it'll link automatically again like it used to. Yay!
While driving home from it, Lady Gaga's "Born This Way" came on, and it's definitive to me that I can't sing that song without at least some of Weird Al Yankovic's "Perform This Way" lyrics sneaking in. Especially the "My mama told me when I was hatched" and "Express yourself!"
+++
Since I've been taking digital photos on an iPhone for twelve years and keep a lot of my favorites in its Photos app, my iPhone 17 has a lot of contenders to choose from when suggesting lockscreens and homescreens for me. This was one of them, and I'm using it to be festive for June.
[ID: A digital drawing of Teor Pridesire and Kattigan Vale from Critical Role. They’re standing together holding beer cans, Kattigan with his chin resting on Teor’s shoulder and a hand on Teor’s waist. They’re both looking off to the right with unimpressed expressions as Kattigan asks “Do you know what the fuck they’re all talking about?” and Teor responds “No.” End description.]
When writing always remember… a character flaw is only a flaw until becomes useful.
Is your protagonist manipulative? Well that’s awful… until they manipulate the antagonist into making a decision that saves the lives of their friends.
Is your protagonist a skeptic? Well that’s not good… until someone tries to lie to them.
Is your protagonist overprotective? That sucks… until someone they love is in danger.
Is your protagonist remorseless? Well that makes them pretty unlikeable… until a hard decision has to be made.
The flipside is also true!
Your protagonist is honest? That’s good… until their survival depends on them being able to lie convincingly.
Your protagonist is brave? That’s good… until they foolishly run headlong into danger without a thought for the consequences.
Your protagonist is forgiving and able to see good in everyone? That’s good… until they continually forgive someone who doesn’t deserve it, and get taken advantage of because they can’t fathom that some people just suck.
Your protagonist is funny? That’s good… until they piss off everyone around them because they don’t seem to be taking the situation seriously, and they keep avoiding dealing with their problems by hiding behind humor.
Most personality traits aren’t inherently good or bad. It’s all about context, and how far they go.
igual ya quedó el precedente de lo mal que organizaron la Copa América, así que no quiero que nadie venga y se queje que no les avisaron que esta gente no está capacitada como para organizar un evento de esta magnitud, cuando ni pudieron con la Copa. Cuando el césped esté hecho pija, cuando los manden a viajar de costa a costa dentro del país, lo mal que manejaron la final. Voy a estar de la mano con Bielsa diciendo al unísono: les dijimos les dijimos les dijimos
I spent far too much of my day engaged in the further pursuit of bureaucracy. Ironically I feel that I may be coming out of the tunnel vision of the last few years when I was focused almost exclusively on not dying because I seem to be seized with chronic low-grade grief. I was able to present spatch with his CD of Harpo Speaks! The Riverside Symphony Concert (1964/2026) which I had ordered for him the second I knew of its existence. Yesterday I did actually run screaming into the afternoon and took a couple of pictures to prove it.
WERS played the Last Dinner Party's "Big Dog" (2026) and I have been playing it ever since. I haven't heard someone wail that hard into a chorus since '90's PJ Harvey.
This year I'm doing Community Thursdays. Some of my activity will involve maintaining communities I run, and my favorites. Some will involve checking my list of subscriptions and posting in lower-traffic ones. Today I have interacted with the following communities...
Long story short: Minecraft two week phase got me good 💔💔💔💔
Wanted to make a quick update to say hello, I'm not dead, I'm still doing good on MOTMG, just been absorbed in other things. As I said above, I've been playing a TON of Minecraft with my friends the past week. It's been a while since I really touched the game (before I was pretty good with being on it consistently for honestly a couple years), so I think that contributed to how hard I fell back into it. Doesn't help that all my friends are putting just as many hours into the game, if not more, as me.
Of course, other real-life events have gotten in the way (cousin wedding, busy time at work). I haven't had time to sit down and make proper Dreamwidth posts in between it all. I think I'm going to draft up a quick summary of things so far for MOTMG then hit the hay. It's one a.m. Yes I'm up this late because of Minecraft. Just assume any questions you have about me can be answered with "Minecraft," it's probably true anyway.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beccaelizabeth![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png){kind=small}
horrorlitreddit_feed
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
liberal.
