A unique way to illustrate quantum mechanics from Physics Reimagined.
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The actual tipping point is predicted to be in 2047. I will be likely be long expired from the sphere, or at the least very old. Most likely, my children and my grandchildren will be here. Hopefully, the inane deniers will also join me in entropy: our shared ultimate physical destiny of dust.
Interestingly, most official sources are not stating super Typhoon Haiyan (an actual term, versus "super storm") is a direct result of climate change. “We don't get to pick and choose which storms are enhanced by a warmer climate and which ones aren't, so this was just as subject to this year's climate as the numerous others that weren't so impressive. Extremely intense tropical cyclones are rare, but have always been a part of nature — we don't need to find an excuse for them.”* However, it may be example of what the Earth might experience more frequently in 34 years.
"But, that's not what you/climate scientists said"...sadly, that statement is forwarded most by those that are not versed in the Scientific Method, which is succinctly:
Problem Statement
Research
Hypothesis
Test Hypothesis
Data Analysis
Conclusion
Retest
Or, another way:
-Ask a question
-Research prevailing data on the subject
-Formulate a null (initial) hypothesis
-Test the null hypothesis via experiment
-Evaluate data results
--Fits hypothesis?
---Yes. Draw conclusions and report results.
--Does not fit hypothesis?
---No. Draw conclusions about experiment viability and ask another question
-Retest
Retest: the most important step, which verifies something as either repeatable or a fluke.
Pretty much both outlines are the same thing, but not conclusive in the light of our need for instantaneous gratification. That lack of appreciation for complexity would be like concluding every detective novel with "the butler did it" and thoroughly unsatisfying intellectually. It is this ignorance that is promoted by our "leadership" so they don't have to grapple with more complex problems than winning their next elections, for which they get handsome benefits and retirement. It is psychological projection to call what the general public has "entitlements" as if unearned.
Cebu is home of the nation's oldest city and birthplace of its indigenous martial arts traditions. It along with surrounding island principalities is a scene of tears.
This is our only home. Gaia weeps as avarice tears her apart.
“Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there-on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.
The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot.
Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.
The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.
It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.”
― Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space
BBC News: Typhoon Haiyan hits the Philippines
* Climate Central: Super Typhoon Haiyan: A Hint of What’s to Come?
Reuters: 'Massive destruction' as typhoon flattens Philippine city, kills at least 100
I watched them play, in the streets, in the fields. Obsessed with courage and tenacity, singleness of heart to move the ball. Showing off their skills, outwitting each other in a game of dares. A group who teased each other about putting Globetrotters on the bench.
I wonder if there was ever a superhero team of ball handlers with all the skills of the Black athlete, football, baseball, basketball, soccer, tennis, pool, etc. They move balls with agility from the green pea on a plate to planets. They hit, kick, throw, bounce through walls and heads. They use the science, calculate the angles. They perfected the thunder dribble, the torpedo backhand blast, the whirlwind overhead kick, the ricochet rocket shot. All their skills are weapons to move the ball.
The balls are like marbles, every kid has played with. The ball handlers seem to pull them out of the air, pass them between themselves and fire them according to their skill. They shrink or grow to meet the challenge, they float and hover, they snoop, they explode, they envelop and contain. Technology and mentality.
The city streets are locked down, no guns for citizens, yet as usual the thugs have guns. The ball handlers were just in the hood on the way to the field of play lugging their grips of gear. Maybe they should be open, maybe they should have secret ID's or a metamorphic change into ninja like warriors, uniforms. Nah, they were kids in the street who stumbled upon of all things the original Globetrotter. An ancient ghetto derelict they found living in a musty room behind the stores. A blind alley, a forgotten lot, there were stories about the bum who mumbled and stumbled in and out. He talked of legends and myths and stellar games. An ancient soul the likes of Stick in Daredevil and Electra, but more ancient. They snooped on him, a dare and a prank, dazed in trance he was, ping pong balls hovering around his head. He was humming a Motown tune. They burst out, how you do that old man. The little white spheres drop, roll across the floor. A tiny bit startled, he chuckles to recompose, five bowling balls rise up out of the mess and hover around his head. He says back at them with the same taunting air, don't mess with me, I'm a baaaaaad dude. He breaks the silence in a more obliging tone. I didn't think you'd get here. Been waiting to train you how to handle the ball a long time. The bowling balls spun off in five directions, one bouncing off landing in a bucket, one smashing a wall, one softly touching the ceiling (it's still there), one spinning on his finger and one circling the head of one of the kids. A bunch of kids become street warriors with special skills to move the ball.
Carl: you are missed.
Site: Carl Sagan Day
Amazon: Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space
Zen Pencils: Pale Blue Dot
Download a copy for Kindle at http://amzn.to/1aYa92y.
Lecture by Leo Susskind...
A version of the quantum Hall effect (QHE) involving light rather than electrons has been created by physicists in the US. The team believes the demonstration could boost understanding of the QHE and perhaps lead to the development of better photonic circuits that use light to process information.
The QHE is a well-known phenomenon that occurs when a voltage is applied along a thin conducting sheet and a magnetic field is applied perpendicular to the sheet's surface. Throughout most of the sheet, the magnetic field makes conduction electrons travel in circular orbits that are quantized. At the edge of the sheet, however, the electrons cannot travel in circles because they would have to leave the sheet and re-enter it. Instead, these electrons hop along the edge in repeated semicircles. Crucially, they will travel along the edge regardless of its shape, following any dents or bulges.
These "topologically protected" paths and other aspects of the QHE have proven to be a rich seam of physics research that has led to two Nobel prizes. However, certain key predictions of QHE theory, such as the presence of bound electron states called anyons, remain unproven. This is because QHE experiments require pure samples, cryogenic temperatures and an ultra-high magnetic field – making measurements difficult to do.
Physics World: Quantum Hall effect created using light
My new eBook Where the Monsters Are was just released last month and I’m giving away 7 copies. If you’d like one, please visit my site at www.razorlinepress.com and leave a message on any of the posts there with your email address. These posts only go public if I make them (so I won’t) and I’ll gift a Kindle copy to you if you’re one of the lucky 7. Check out the press release or click on the link to see what it’s about: http://amzn.to/1aYa92y.
Another thought, society presses to make us individuals, independent in thought and action. We balance that push with a natural inclination toward the collective. We have had our history burned and were retaught history as a warped paraphrase of unrelated events. Then we are taught trust, faith and to hope with no bases in reality. In the end our collective realm was trashed and our individual person mugged to the max.
We spend the rest of our lives with snippets of truth. As strong individuals we often display what we know, exalting that part as the whole, the fire of rhetoric, the rhythmic bantering, the jive of justice. Of course our discourse is timely but as momentary as fads, fantasy and trends, WHY? Because new info interrupts our mini siege on the world, causes us to reconsider our display until further notice. One of the big problems of Black folk is having to reconstruct our past so that we know how to act today. The other problem is projecting into the future with what we know or think we know now.
If you step back far enough, we are who we are, in our time, the result of all before us. In that sense we don't need to do anything except survive. But there is, at least in me, a pain in the bones, wanting to know what other Blacks are thinking, feeling, how they are dealing, what pieces of the puzzle they realize and do they know that it is just a piece. What happens when the pieces come together from different persons, schools of thought and the misalignments, extraneous thoughts and events are exposed, shaken off? What happens when we the strong individuals connect in a natural collective realm? What happens when we realize our powers are not defined or depended on the system that domesticated us? What happens when we step back and look at us as a collective, regardless of the physical and mental distance constructed between us? Can we come out of our domestication, probably not completely. We might dare to risk a thought life behind the scenes while holding a compliant public face. Soon that too becomes a way of life. Hypocrites are the saints of survival. Don't we live that way? I do!
Researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have joined with an international team to engineer and measure a potentially important new class of nanostructured materials for microwave and advanced communication devices. Based on NIST's measurements, the new materials—a family of multilayered crystalline sandwiches—might enable a whole new class of compact, high-performance, high-efficiency components for devices such as cellular phones.*
"These materials are an excellent example of what the Materials Genome Initiative refers to as 'materials-by-design'," says NIST physicist James Booth, one of the lead researchers. "Materials science is getting better and better at engineering complex structures at an atomic scale to create materials with previously unheard-of properties."
The new multilayer crystals are so-called "tunable dielectrics," the heart of electronic devices that, for example, enable cell phones to tune to a precise frequency, picking a unique signal out of the welter of possible ones.
Tunable dielectrics that work well in the microwave range and beyond—modern communications applications typically use frequencies around a few gigahertz—have been hard to make, according to NIST materials scientist Nathan Orloff. "People have created tunable microwave dielectrics for decades, but they've always used up way too much power." These new materials work well up to 100 GHz, opening the door for the next generation of devices for advanced communications.
What this means to you: as you'll read in the article, it could mean an end to dropped cell phone calls (or, at least minimizing it significantly)...

*C-H Lee, N.D. Orloff, T. Birol, Y. Zhu, V. Goian, E. Rocas, R. Haislmaier, E. Vlahos, J.A. Mundy, L.F. Kourkoutis, Y. Nie, M.D. Biegalski, J. Zhang, M. Bernhagen, N.A. Benedek, Y. Kim, J.D. Brock, R.Uecker, X.X. Xi, V. Gopalan, D. Nuzhnyy, S. Kamba, D.A. Muller, I. Takeuchi, J.C. Booth, C.J. Fennie and D.G. Schlom. Exploiting dimensionality and defect mitigation to create tunable microwave dielectrics. Nature, 502, 532–536, Oct. 24, 2013. doi:10.1038/nature12582.
National Institute of Standards and Technology:
Perfect Faults: A Self-Correcting Crystal May Unleash the Next Generation of Advanced Communications
Nathaniel David Lewis asks about Black representation in the cartoon industry. When I was in college I explored the same thing concerning Industrial Design, Interior Design and Architecture. Sure there are notables and maybe even a principle (owner of a firm). Even MIT university ask how many black architects can you name. Names escape me as I think of the brother who designed a spacey looking airport building around the 50's and the Madison brothers here in the Cleveland Ohio area. I have lost touch with the different fields and gone into art. But ask who are the black artist from whom I draw inspiration, I'm at a loss again.
If one of us (black persons) is trained in any of the design professions and have the good fortune of being known in the industry as a cultural innovator or a so called household name, that is a thing of wonder. To have a body of work that capsulizes the cultural flavor and fuels the market with products that black people could embrace as out from us, that is again a wonder. The problem seems to be coming up through the ranks of companies owned and directed by other cultural bents and not getting the opportunity or idea that a different expression will survive the market place.
When I was in high school, I did renderings of homes, mostly I copied, but some of my own design. I tried to imagine what it would be like to design silverware, quilts, t shirts, furniture and home interiors. Do you think there was any support to push in that direction? Not for me, I did assume others might have those aspirations and needed support. I look at the fields today, there are many black designers, none of note I can name. You see working in the field as a player doesn't mean you are managing the game, doesn't get your name associated with the product, the movement. What does it take, I don't know. Today I am more about the flavor. What is the Black Aesthetic, the Black Style, the Black Look. I do see it kind of in fashion, mainstream black art, but it hasn't reached Interior Design products on the store shelves or a Black owned and operated culturally bent towards us store. I think we are spread, dispersed too thinly across America to have impact on ourselves.
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Source: Science in Seconds |
"God must be an Aggie," my classmate said as the weather was beautiful: average temperature felt about 70 degrees Fahrenheit...in November. We won in a 59-12 blowout. I left after the halftime show: 31-6 then.
So, out of curiosity, I went to the archives of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association Weather Forecast Service for Raleigh/Durham. I'd last attended #GHOE in 1999 right after my father's passing; the archives only went to 2000 (all admitted "eyeball" approximations of November average temperatures). I recall it being cold enough for a coat and ski cap in that November:
2000: 50 degrees
2001: 52 degrees
2002: 50 degrees
2003: 58 degrees
2004: 70 degrees
2005: 50 degrees
2006: 52 degrees
2007: 50 degrees
2008: 50 degrees
2009: 60 degrees
2010: 52 degrees
2011: ~50 degrees or less
2012: 50 degrees
2013: ~68 degrees
Greensboro and Durham, NC are both 36 and 40 degrees respectively for the moment. Climate change is murky because people either want a clear demonstration that it IS happening - Louisiana may be gone in 10 years. Once we've reached that stage, only star ships or biblical rapture could save the human species.
Ironically, the NOAA posts a disclaimer: "Climate data on this page is PRELIMINARY (unofficial). CERTIFIED (official) climate data is available from the National Climate Data Center (NDCC)."
Except, when you click on the link you get this message:
404 Not Found
The requested URL /rah/cliplot/www.ncdc.noaa.gov was not found on this server.
The actual URL I did find, and it has some useful information, but sadly seems as well-designed as the health care exchange site. I'm not saying the information is NOT there: it's just going to take some patience on your and my part since neither of us are environmental engineers.
I'm posting not just due to a week from Hurricane Sandy's anniversary: the "quick fix" solution promoted (and I've reported on this blog) has been geoengineering, i.e. seeding the clouds with sulfate aerosols deliberately to cool the temperature of the planet. I had a strong reaction to this: One of my process engineering projects had been eliminating chlorofluorocarbons from [then] our Polysilicon Etch processes. The problem with the whole aerosol spray thing is there could possibly be less rain, and since the planet and our bodies are made of ~70% melted comet snow balls, that presents problems only Bedouins so far have successfully adapted to. Of course, the Bedouins kind of "know" where the water is for their survival. Quick fixes seem to be the norm in the post-Google world of downloading information versus studying to master it; we've lost an appreciation for the process of discovery and problem solving: both take time, and soon that luxury will not be afforded us.
In Caveat Emptor, I pointed out a large percentage of the elements/rare earths for so-called green technology are found in the country of our banker, China.
We appear to be painting ourselves into a very narrowing corner, our options are few and sadly due to the elevation of the politics of deliberate science ignorance at the highest level: self-constricting...
PSA: It's election day, and every one counts. Go out and vote for the representatives that can answer these questions: ScienceDebate.org. Money becomes free speech only when free people stay home.
Technology Review: One Potential Problem With Geoengineering: Less Rain
Your Nightmares. All Grown Up
Where the Monsters Are
Gerald Dean Rice
Gerald Parsons is on his way up. He's a talented executive in line for a major promotion and married to a beautiful woman. But a chance encounter that may not be coincidence with a stranger who claims to know him begins to unravel his happy life. After a co-worker is killed and another has his career sabotaged, the stranger shows up at his home, ready to party with his own special news, leaving Gerald to ponder if he is next.
Just because Halloween is over doesn’t mean the scares have to stop. If you didn’t get your fill of horror in October, download the tale that answers what happens to the monsters under our beds and in our closets when we’re not little children anymore.
Gerald Dean Rice is the author of numerous short stories, novellas, and his first novel, The Ghost Toucher. He’s currently working on his first vampire novel and doing workshops on publishing in Michigan.
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Where the Monsters Are is available for download right now on Kindle, Nook, and everywhere eBooks are sold.
You can follow him on Twitter @GeraldRice or join the Gerald Rice fan page. To book him for speaking engagements, please visit http://razorlinepress.com/i-speak/.
Small Fish, Big City - Chapter 1
Matthew discovers the laundromat in his new home of Big City to be just a little bit stranger than he initially thought: http://wp.me/p1UgIB-HR
Small Fish, Big City - Chapter 2
After recovering from the unusual nature of the laundromat, Matthew discovers the phenomenon he has discovered has a name. They are called kami! - http://wp.me/p1UgIB-Ib
Small Fish, Big City - Chapter 3
Big City has one more lesson before the day is over for Matthew. Gangs rule the night...: http://wp.me/p1UgIB-Il
Looking to do something more interesting than the standard ad for my new novel, I put together an animated web banner for the latest novel in the Tales from the Long Road series, 'Book of Dragon's Teeth.'
© 2012 H. Wolfgang Porter. All Rights Reserved. Published by Dreaded Enterprises Unlimited, Inc.
To see the animation, click on the image below
This is a story I wrote a long time ago that I updated and uploaded to the Kindle platform being that I heard that this is the way to wealth, fame and riches. It's being offered for free on the Kindle. I definitely like the new cover. Has some slightly disturbing content. Its free for the next day or so. Enjoy.
I keep forgetting that I have a blog page on here!
I just joined the board of the Carl Brandon Society, so I'm excited about working with the organization that gave me so much in 2012.
Recently I was told that my short story "Throb" will be included in the new groundbreaking speculative fiction anthology "Longhidden". It comes out in 2014.
Also, my short story "Throwback" is in the new Genesis 2 Anthology. (Support!)
One of the things I really want to do with the BSFS family is to encourage the writers here to attend conferences and apply for writing workshops that I am just now discovering. Part of the reason why I love the Carl Brandon Society is their commitment to bringing forth new writers of color in Spec Fic.
One of the biggest complaints I hear from black writers is that traveling to conferences or applying to writing fellowships/workshops is expensive. Yeah, some are, but I'm going to call bullshit on using that as the crutch to not investing in the work. We all know college is expensive, and yet if people want a degree, you have to pay for it. And before people start throwing up "I have kids, a fulltime job, responsibilities..blah blahblah," STOP. If you are not willing to invest in your craft, move on. It's that simple.
Let me tell you, by saving up (a year in advance) and attending conferences like Wiscon & Readercon last summer, I have made wonderful contacts and inroads with my writing career. I've met writers, editors, publishers and genre fans who have connected me to writing opportunities. I mean literally I have spoken to editors for magazines who have said "Send your stuff over." Simply because I was in the room with them talking in person. And check this: The Carl Brandon Society has a Con or Bust program to help cover the costs of PoC attending conferences. Check out the website:http://con-or-bust.org/ via carlbrandon.org
So, I will do my best to be an advocate for BSFS members. I come from a tradition of each one teach one, and payback is reaching back. And access to information is a tremendous help. I had never heard of WisCon or Readercon or a butt load of cons until I went to Clarion, and Ted Chiang, one of my teachers told me to go. So I am telling you. Go. There are many Cons near any city where people live. I will be going to WisCon again next May, and I'm thinking of going to DetCon, a convention in Detroit next July. So I'm saving money now. Next November I am going to the World Fantasy Convention which will be in D.C., so if there are folks in and around the D.C. area, let's chop it up. Do it.
Holla atcha gurrlllll.....
L-Boogie
It’s been a while since I found one of these guys who promise to take your manuscript and publish it in eBook form.
X Publishing is requesting proposals for books to be published on iPad, Kindle, and Nook. eBook technology is changing the publishing world. iPad, Amazon Kindle, Barnes and Noble Nook, and Sony Reader created profitable mass markets for eBooks. We at X Publishing are here to help you take advantage of that.
We invite you to submit a query letter or manuscript for consideration.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I retain the rights to my book?
Yes. You retain all print rights, which means that when your eBook gets discovered by a big publishing company, you’ll receive 100% of those royalties.How much will you edit my manuscript?
Not too much. If your manuscript needs major edits, it probably will be rejected. We will edit for clarity and concision. You will have the opportunity to approve or reject all edits.Do I have to pay anything?
No. If your manuscript is selected, you will pay nothing to have your book published.How much do you sell your eBooks for?
We prefer to sell eBooks at low prices with the goal of stimulating more sales volume, profits, and royalties. We default to charging $2.99 per eBook, but are open to your preferences on pricing, especially if you have already built a target audience with which you are familiar.How much will I earn in royalties?
The fortunate few chosen to write for traditional publishers receive around $2 in royalties for each $20 hardcover book sold, according to the Ethan Ellenberg Literary Agency, an agent that represents writers. Your royalties will be 230% higher than that. You’ll receive $1 for each $2.99 eBook sold.I’m not sure if my manuscript is good enough. Should I submit?
If you’re on the fence, we suggest submitting. X Publishing can often say yes to manuscripts that traditional publishers will reject because our costs are lower.
I took out the name because I don’t want to give these guys any more press than this. Let’s break this down piece by piece. Notice at the very beginning how they are only publishing your manuscript as an eBook? That should be a warning flag right there. ePublishing is something that is super easy that anyone can do. I even wrote a book about it that retails for $2.99. Now that’s not just a plug (well, it is a plug, but I’ll come back to it in a moment).
You might be saying at this point, ‘hey, so what it’s only electronic where they publish, they’re not charging me anything’. This is very true if you mean there’s no upfront cost. But what they are charging you on the back end. Their price-point is $2.99. Now on Amazon (just about everyone follows closely what Amazon pays) the publisher will earn $2.05 per unit sold. They are pocketing 51% of that and paying you a buck. Now you may be thinking, hey, that’s actually a pretty good deal, if my book were published by a traditional publisher, I’d be making way less than that (which is true and is pointed out by these guys). But what a real publisher is giving you outweighs anything these guys have said they’d do for you.
Notice nothing is said about the creation of a cover, extensive editing services, advertising of your book, book tours, etc. All these things are what the big boys do to promote your book so it can sell. So what you are giving up in royalty percentage, you are more than gaining in units sold (ideally). But these guys are getting you on the cheap. They make no mention of promoting you, which means you are left to promote yourself. They make no mention of creating a cover for you, which means you either are going to create your own cover, pay them to create your cover, or pay someone else to create your cover. Now, there are some places you can have a cover made without spending a lot of dough (again, you can read about that in my $2.99 book) or you can wait until you’ve signed the bottom line with these guys to see which option you are left with.
Next! You do retain the rights to your work. Of course you do. You just are signing away your right to publish it yourself for a term of service. Something between 3 to 5 years. And by them saying they’ll be your publisher until an actual publisher comes along to buy the rights, that big publisher is buying the rights from them, not you. You’ve already handed over the rights to publish (you can never surrender ownership of your story–it’s a semantics trick).
The reason they don’t want to edit your manuscript is because they are looking for people to hand over their work so they can publish right now. They herd you in the right direction to get cover created and they can have your book on e-shelves in a few days time with little to no financial investment on their part.
Again, self-publishing an eBook is very simple and super-easy. I take you through the whole process in my book, and instead of paying them $1.05 per book, you can buy mine for a one-time charge of $2.99. But you can always buy anyone’s book on self-publishing in the digital age and come out way cheaper than anything these guys can do for you.
Kori Miller's Back Porch Writer site interviewed me Tuesday morning about writing, the Darkside Trilogy, hosting the Genesis Radio Show and more.
To listen to me being on the other side of an interview follow this link: Back Porch Writer Radio Show
I’ll let this one speak for itself. Download a copy if you’re looking for a good #Halloween read.
I stumbled onto Gerald Dean Rice on Facebook and saw the new cover for this book and thought I’d give it a shot. Three stories just 37 pages and it’s less than a dollar.
This is a very short collection but it does make for a good introduction to Rice’s work. Each story is solid and while they aren’t gory they are in a style that reminds me of The Twilight Zone, or even Night Gallery. This is classic horror and done well.
I’m glad I stumbled onto Rice and plan on reading as much as I can from this guy. He knows how to craft a story and after I read the last one in this collection I was upset because it was over. If you love classic horror that relies more on story telling than violence and gore pick this up. You won’t be dissapointed