Robert W. Williams @robtwilliams.bsky.social · 1hThe recipe perhaps called for a few dollops of this and several pinches of that - units of measurement apparently quite obscure. And let's not get into the widespread misunderstanding between "liter" and "litter". 000
Robert W. Williams @robtwilliams.bsky.social · 2hAtherton #AScareADay It's a sad story. Weigall discovers his friend Gifford's corpse in the Striding Place, a raging torrent. It's also tragic based on the etymology of "strid", denoting locomotion & strife [googled]. IMO Weigall never overcame inner turmoil to stride to an "intimate friendship". 000
Robert W. Williams @robtwilliams.bsky.social · 10/10/2026Machen #AScareADay Mind over matter; will over flesh--statements of truth? Or might reason & will be transmuted by ingesting a peculiar powder? The powder is analyzed chemically, broken into essential elements that reveal, to the horror of the witnesses to its effects, humankind's primordial core. 010
Robert W. Williams @robtwilliams.bsky.social · 09/10/20263/3 Two-body thesis: 2 physical beings, but only 1 consciousness. The walker as witch controls the dweller's words who is present in body. Third-person narrator thesis: Via a witchery of words, the poet allows (prior to possession) the dweller to plant spoilers to distract readers from conundrums. 000
Robert W. Williams @robtwilliams.bsky.social · 09/10/20262/3 Question: How would the dweller in stanza 3, not yet possessed or controlled by the walker as witch, know to narrate that the fireplace would never be lit again? Musings: One-body thesis: Dweller is possessed by the walker as witch; dweller's consciousness is part of the witch. [1 body is AWOL] 100
Robert W. Williams @robtwilliams.bsky.social · 09/10/2026Coleridge #AScareADay "The Witch" seems to be a poem of supernatural possession b/c of the 2 different 1st-person narrators: * the walker in the snow (stanzas 1 & 2); * the dweller in the house (st. 3). The possession is signified by the repetition of "lift me [later "her"] over the threshold". 1/3 120
Robert W. Williams @robtwilliams.bsky.social · 08/10/20262/2 Phelps #AScareADay Pondering the ending: *Who is the Presence? Former or unrequited love? *What do the narrator's unspoken words mean? Maybe: What's not recognized when alive stays forever unspeakable? If we don't speak what's on our mind & heart while living, it will remain eternally unspoken? 130
Robert W. Williams @robtwilliams.bsky.social · 08/10/2026Phelps #AScareADay The narrator, a soul released, ponders her corpse's physicality before leaving (earthly) home. She encounters a Presence ["P"], whom she describes in intimate ways. The Presence stays silent. The narrator is mournful & mute, but wants to say "Death is dumb, for Life is deaf!" 1/2 121
Robert W. Williams @robtwilliams.bsky.social · 07/10/2026#AScareADay Edwards pens "In the Confessional" w/ confessions of presumed sin & of lingering torment. One leads to the murder of a wife by her husband; another to the peaceful death of a priest wracked by family tragedy. YET: How can the narrator see the apparition when townspeople apparently can't? 020
Robert W. Williams @robtwilliams.bsky.social · 06/10/2026RE: "The Cold Embrace" by Mary Braddon Did the student feel so guilty that he starved to death? Icy fingers on his neck thus might have been manifestations of guilt. However, the student often forgot about the unfortunate Gertrude...so a supernatural reading seems plausible. Besides, it is October. 110
Robert W. Williams @robtwilliams.bsky.social · 06/10/2026Braddon #AScareADay Life is short. The young student's undying love for Gertrude is shorter still. Art is long, demanding devotion to one's craft. The student pursues his art, and his ardor, despite previous oaths of love. But such oaths are eternal and must be embraced, even from beyond the grave. 120
Robert W. Williams @robtwilliams.bsky.social · 05/10/2026Pigault-Lebrun #AScareADay [Inscription discovered on a tomb in the French town of Salins] Youthful strength and a warrior's courage are poor companions on earthly journeys. The piety of a maiden true, armed with the Cross of Redemption, shall vanquish all demonic Abominations. Dominus nobiscum. 020
Robert W. Williams @robtwilliams.bsky.social · 04/10/2026A story, passed down through generations, holds that a sign was recovered from the scene of the tragic knight-on-knight violence. It was found face down in some reeds, probably dislodged by Vandals. "There be doom - DOOM! - in these silent waters. Be afraid. Be. Very. Afraid. Have a great day." 110
Robert W. Williams @robtwilliams.bsky.social · 04/10/2026Ainsworth #AScareADay A beguiling stranger meets innocent Clotilda at her birthday party. His words then & later [shall I say] sweep her off her feet, consequences be damned. If only her fate were so intoxicating! For what awaits her after swearing an infernal oath to eternal love is-- [I shudder]. 041
Robert W. Williams @robtwilliams.bsky.social · 03/10/2026Bannerman #AScareADay Knights of old were so brave Facing peril, their king to save. Yet of all the skills to possess Earl William needed but one for success. Forget not the king's command most stark: Pray at the cross of holy St. Mark. Alas, William forgot & had to fight The dreaded Water-Knight. 040
Robert W. Williams @robtwilliams.bsky.social · 03/10/2026Islands are a great setting for a story. In the ocean. Surrounded by leagues of forbidding waters. Catastrophic storms. The trip to an island can be as perilous as staying on the island. Who knows what lurks behind the lush foliage? Who knows what dark secret lies in wait? What curse is unleashed? 110
Robert W. Williams @robtwilliams.bsky.social · 02/10/2026#AScareADay On a ship voyage, Karamzin's narrator visits 2 islands that bend super- w/ natural. The setting intrigues me. Islands are to the sea, just as the castle garden's vault is to time's passage. Both are encircled by dynamic flows. Both arrest space & time, holding secrets, revealing little. 141
Robert W. Williams @robtwilliams.bsky.social · 01/10/2026Thank you for curating the stories of the annual October challenge, #AScareADay. And the hashtag is spot on. [#ScaryStoriesYoudBetterReadInBroadDaylightBecauseTheyreTooTerrifyingToReadInTheDarkWhereYoureGonnaMeetThe GhouliesAndGhostiesAndLongLeggedBeastiesAndThingsThatGoBumpInTheNight is too long.] 230
Robert W. Williams @robtwilliams.bsky.social · 01/10/2026Baillie #AScareADay In one tempestuous night 3 stories join 4 lives of loss & fate. Lovers reunite, brought together by an abiding force. A murderer of trust encounters damnation glaring by day's light. A father hears his daughter's beloved song, briefly, then gone, as she was to him; then he, too. 031
Robert W. Williams @robtwilliams.bsky.social · 01/10/2026IT IS UPON US: October and its portents: falling leaves of copper and red, cold nights, and the even chillier tales of horror, terror, and eeriethings in between. Yes, #AScareADay has emerged from its abode to join us. With stories said to be mere imaginings, fantastical and wild. (I can only hope). 162
Robert W. Williams @robtwilliams.bsky.social · 22/09/2026If people become too nosey about your arms dealership - perhaps they got an earful of conspiracy - then you haul out the grindstone. Once they set eyes on its rough surface, they'll know you're not ribbing them. There's teeth to your claims. Their fingers, and the rest of them, will do the walking. 030
Robert W. Williams @robtwilliams.bsky.social · 17/09/2026Now I know October is 'round the corner, down a country road, edged as a knife, w/ nary a flickering light (not one!), past the wooded stretch of omnious shadows playing trick-o'treat w/ my sanity, and heading toward the solitary house of 7 or more gables, shimmering, shivering under a moonlit sky. 120
Robert W. Williams @robtwilliams.bsky.social · 08/09/2026Your artwork is inspiring and, well, quite artistic. It captures the mood of good friends hanging out on a summer night. Thank you for posting it. 020
Robert W. Williams @robtwilliams.bsky.social · 08/09/2026Acorn and Ribbert were old friends, ever since Ribby saved young Acorn from the treacherous Tadpole Pond. They often talked after a long day of nut catching and fly gathering. This evening Ribby was rather nervous. R: Ya know, Ac. I've been feeling weird lately. A: How so? R: Like I'm being watched. 011
Robert W. Williams @robtwilliams.bsky.social · 06/09/2026Vistas of green and flow often please the spirit and feed the imagination - at least there is some literary evidence to that effect. May wonderful vistas welcome you in your new home. 010
Robert W. Williams @robtwilliams.bsky.social · 01/07/2026Sounds like a very interesting book! A Borgish thought (from a Cube perhaps nearby) rematerialized in my mind: * Resistance Is Not Futile, Repetition Is: The Political Imagination of Star Trek: Voyager Subtitles?? The Political Misimagination of ST:V The Political Disimagination of ST:V 010
Robert W. Williams @robtwilliams.bsky.social · 01/07/2026"Yes, indeed," he was heard to say. "No one's got more humility than me. I'm the most humble person ever. Everybody tells me that." 010
Robert W. Williams @robtwilliams.bsky.social · 29/06/2026I agree it's important for us to recognize AI-like structures. IMO: Em dashes interject a flash of insight, a helpful definition, a delightful retort, or a clarifying example at the exact textual point where a thought surfaced, one that could no longer remain within the scope of the writer's mind. 010
Robert W. Williams @robtwilliams.bsky.social · 22/06/2026Some say that one too was afraid of seven... And three for the same reason. And five? Five's provided zero responses to all inquiries at the time of this posting. 000
Robert W. Williams @robtwilliams.bsky.social · 08/06/2026I get my Scottish geology lessons from Dr. Luisa Hendry, who has an informative Youtube channel. It's appropriately named @Scottishgeologist www.scottishgeologist.co.uk I don't know her personally. Have a nice and interesting trip!scottishgeologist.co.ukGroup Tours - Scottish Geology Tours — Scottish Geologist 110
Robert W. Williams @robtwilliams.bsky.social · 06/04/2026Sometimes I will write: "Sending well wishes and positive vibes" or (if the situation is appropriate) "Sending get-better-soon wishes". I subscribe to the lesser known Quantum Theory of Empathic Vibration, otherwise called "Positive Vibes at a Distance". 040
Robert W. Williams @robtwilliams.bsky.social · 03/03/2026I can imagine a news story describing a similar, more contemporary research report: Doomscrolling before sleep produces night terrors. Other maladies possible. 010
Robert W. Williams @robtwilliams.bsky.social · 21/02/2026Thank you for the information. Your upcoming course will be interesting. 110
Robert W. Williams @robtwilliams.bsky.social · 20/02/2026I'm just seeing your post on teaching such a romance course. If I may... How might you arrange the readings in the course? By themes (narrative arcs, protagonists/antagonists, settings?)? By authors? By some other way or even combination? I'm not a literature specialist, admittedly. Thank you. 110
Robert W. Williams @robtwilliams.bsky.social · 18/02/2026I'm sorry that you're experiencing all of this. I am one of your many well-wishers and positive-vibe-senders from across the pond. 010
Robert W. Williams @robtwilliams.bsky.social · 19/01/2026Sloppe shoppe - not AI data center. Or 'slop shop' works if the character count is tight or the inkwell low. 000
Robert W. Williams @robtwilliams.bsky.social · 28/12/2025"Preamble. So tasty. Tastiest foreword I've ever eaten. And I've eaten lots. Article 1 wasn't as bad as I expected. Some parts gave me indigestion. Can I say that? I'm gonna say that. Loved Article 2. Hit the spot! Gonna wait on Article 3. I dipped the amendments in ketchup and ate 'em like fries." 000
Robert W. Williams @robtwilliams.bsky.social · 22/12/2025O Fortuna, Colossus of Time, May your child Serendipity smile upon us. [Prayer from the apocryphal 12th Century Tome of Scribery and Magick.] 010
Robert W. Williams @robtwilliams.bsky.social · 21/12/2025Autumn - I mean winter - landscapes are tremendous. Summer is a fortunate memory and Spring is becoming ready to bloom. Winter is now. Thanks for sharing. 010
Robert W. Williams @robtwilliams.bsky.social · 02/12/2025Thanks for posting this link to the article. I never - probably never - would have encountered it. 110
Robert W. Williams @robtwilliams.bsky.social · 08/11/2025Retirement in a word? If I may: A proepilogue? Awkwards perhaps, maybe even a bit morbid. But it's more succinct than my go-to Tennyson: "'T is not too late to seek a newer world". 020
Robert W. Williams @robtwilliams.bsky.social · 08/11/20253/3 I finally said to Alfred, guilt edging my words, my words mangling metaphors: "What shined once may shine again. But don't leave things unplugged for too long." Alfred left my house shaking his head. I was still his eccentric neighbor. [Thanks, Uncle Duke, for photos & stories that inspire.] 020
Robert W. Williams @robtwilliams.bsky.social · 08/11/20252/3 We brought Tux home. He was so happy; his antics lit up our home. In the livingroom or kitchen his soft humming filled the air. But later, years later, LEDs became the rage. Tux didn't like being put into a backroom. When we'd pat the switch on, the glare was so intense. Nothing like before. 110
Robert W. Williams @robtwilliams.bsky.social · 08/11/2025"Why do you keep this old thing around?" Alfred switched on the lamp & received a jolt. A little nip on the fingers. The lamp was not amused. "Sorry about that." Should I tell Alfred that when we first found Tux abandoned on a sidewalk, he seemed so cute w/ his filaments flickering curiously. 1/3 110
Robert W. Williams @robtwilliams.bsky.social · 07/11/2025"Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds. Clyde, however, is something completely different!" 010
Robert W. Williams @robtwilliams.bsky.social · 07/11/2025Yes. I'm on T**ttXr for the (Mount)doom-scrolling, and Bluesky for the shire-strolling. Thanks for asking. Might you be enjoying this azure site? 010
Robert W. Williams @robtwilliams.bsky.social · 31/10/2025Thank you, @romgothsam.bsky.social, for organizing #AScareADay for lo! these many Octobers. I enjoy the arrival of Autumn b/c I know #AScareADay is "frighteningly" close. I really liked: The Little Room Charon Mystery of the Blue Jar Ten Excerpts... Midnight Meat Train Eleanor Atkins... Two in One 170