Agent Palmer

On Tuesday, March 18, 2025, at 6:18pm the world lost legendary musicmaker Andrew Belling.

Belling was a stranger to me until I was first introduced to Ralph Bakshi’s seminal work Wizards, for which he composed the entire electronic score. From then on, I was a fan of his work.

Merriam-Webster defines wisdom as the “ability to discern inner qualities and relationships;” “good sense;” “generally accepted belief;” “accumulated philosophical or scientific learning” which could be summarized as insight, judgment and knowledge.

It continues on to define it as “a wise attitude, belief, or course of action” and “the teachings of the ancient wise men.”

I have read the collection of stories known as “The Monster Book of Zombies” edited by Stephen Jones, which is more than just Tales of the Walking Dead as the subtitle suggests. It’s variations on a theme. Perhaps that’s the standard as I’m not often a short story collections reader.

I’m also not much of a horror reader, so to attempt to properly review this collection would be folly. However, I have chosen my favorite short stories from this collection to share with you.

Brad Watson’s short story collection Aliens in the Prime of Their Lives is something of a revelation for a publication released in 2010. The stories contained within could take place from the 1970s through the 2000s, though their relevance and enjoyment seems to be timeless.

That’s the point of stories, particularly short stories – they are supposed to endure with some kind of lesson or sense of purpose either bestowed upon or lost on the reader.