Thrilling Tales for July

Laurel and Hardy were a comedy team widely regarded as one of the best in film history. Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy made over 100 comedies together, starting in the silent movie era and moving to "talkies." Author Ray Bradbury loved this duo and anything about old Hollywood. Another Fine Mess is his tribute to Laurel and Hardy's award-winning film, The Music Box, made in 1932.

This short story by Ray Bradbury is the first Irish short story written by this well-known author. The story came from Bradbury's own experiences of living in Dublin in 1953-54 while writing the screenplay for "Moby Dick" for film director John Huston. It is a wonderful story about the Irish with a surprise ending. Starting March 4th, go to https://www.eastlakelibrary.org/thrilling-tales to listen to our podcast!

This month, we have two short stories by famous American authors. An exemplary Ambrose Bierce tale, "The Boarded Window" involves an ill-fated marriage and an act of shocking violence in the dark of night. "The "Oval Portrait," by Edgar Allan Poe, concerns a man who spends a night in an abandoned chateau and becomes fascinated by a portrait of a beautiful young woman.

The Snow Image: A Childish Miracle (1851) is a story Nathaniel Hawthorne originally intended for adults, later adapted for children. A brother and sister, named Peony and Violet, create a snow girl that magically comes to life. Join us starting January 2nd for January's Thrilling Tales podcast by going to https://www.eastlakelibrary.org/thrilling-tales.

Getting ready for some holiday travel? Let's hope you don't have the same experience as the airline passenger in Richard Matheson's short story, "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet." Made famous in the Twilight Zone episode starring William Shatner, this is the story of Bob Wilson, a salesman recovering from a recent nervous breakdown, who becomes convinced that a monster only he can see is tampering with the engines on the wing of the plane he is flying in. Unfortunately, when anyone else looks, the creature disappears! Of all of Matheson's novels and short stories, none comes closer to sheer paranoid terror than this classic thriller. Starting November 12, go to https://www.eastlakelibrary.org/thrilling-tales.

Clifford Martin Eddy Jr. was an American author known for his horror, mystery and supernatural short stories. He is best remembered for his work in Weird Tales Magazine and his friendship with H.P. Lovecraft. "The Ghost Eater" is a take on a poor soul taking shelter on a stormy night in what seems to be an unoccupied house in the middle of a dense forest - the perfect ingredients for a horror story, don't you think? 

"To Serve Man" is a science fiction short story by Damon Knight. It is told from the point of view of a translator working at the United Nations, as he narrates the story of the Kanamit, a race of aliens that seem to radiate goodwill, friendship, and plentiful gifts. The story first appeared in the November 1950 issue of Galaxy Science Fiction and has been reprinted a number of times. However, it was made widely popular by its 1962 television dramatization as an episode of The Twilight Zone, starring Richard Kiel.