Would you like some Poison?
Fri 25 Sep 2009 - Filed under: Not a Journal., Big Mouth House, Free books, Holly Black, Poison Eaters | 14 Comments | Posted by: Gavin
We have five advance copies of Holly Black’s new collection, The Poison Eaters and Other Stories, to go out to readers and bloggers (in the US + Canada, as we don’t have international rights to the book) who will post something about it before it comes out — all the long way away in the future of February 2010.
Interested? Tell us your favorite poison (and why) and we’ll send out five copies to the five shiveriest and scariest!
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14 Responses to “Would you like some Poison?”
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Hemlock, because we’re studying Plato and Socrates in school. (Freshman year does not suck.)
The link is to my mom’s blog. I’d review the book as a guest post there, because her blog has more readers than mine!
–Elayna
Nicotine. A patient wife once took her husband’s cigar butts, one by one, and for months soaked them in a bucket of water. After many months, she served the vile concoction to her husband in a soup. He died a hideous, choking death. I assure you this story is absolutely true.
Oleander. That beautiful flower that lines the roads in California, pink, white, red blossoms, so very, very lovely. One leaf floated for a few moments in a glass of water can make that water deadly. Such beauty, so ugly.
Time, because no one ever sees it coming until it’s too late.
Oh it has to be those “Every Rose Has Its Thorn” guys.
Mercury, because seafood has such high levels of the stuff, because we’re still using it medicinally, because alchemists thought that all other metals derived from it, because hatters became mad as hatters by using mercury to make hats, and because all the little quicksilvery beads of it try to escape on their own if you drop an old thermometer.
Luke: you are a bad person! Be careful no one offers you a plate of nicotine soup!
Will: stop dropping old thermometers!
Dancing.
It scrapes you out from the inside, replaces bones with antennae that shiver to every faint hum. It peels your skin thinner and infects you with some kind of desire. It makes your body more clever, but does nothing about helping you understand.
Hans Christian Anderson got it almost right with his red shoes and his poor little girl. But cutting them off can’t cure you. It only makes everything worse.
polonium 210
painful and slow radiation poisoning. it is undetectable using most Geiger counters, as it does not emit gamma radiation. instead it emits alpha particles which are unlikely to kill you from the outside. but if the substance gets inside you, you are pretty much toast. and you can get enough of the stuff to kill buying a few products on amazon.com (if you can separate out the polonium).
chronic poisoning vis a vis mercury or lead…
It’s much more satisfying to kill someone slowly, watching them inch away, one piece at a time…not knowing that they’re dying…
erm, but I would never do that. Only my sock puppet would. He has no ethics.
Megan, you may just have poisoned dancing for me!
Paul, as long as your sock puppet(s) keep themselves online (and don’t order any mercury or lead) we’ll all be happy.
Dear Margo, Megan, oh, in fact all of you!, please email us your addresses to the usual address and we will send some juicy literary poison your way!
I’d like to know about a spoiling a keg of beer, making it stop fermenting, or something additive, as the beer making is a ruining our relationship. Something to add to the brew-up thats tasteless, perhaps causes a bit of light tummy distress, the runs, or a general off put to a very abusive habit, and sugestions? Please? I don’t want to kill the man, just want him to lay off it, discover it’s bad sides…..
discover the good sides without beer making….
He has beer bubbling, what could I add?
I am serious.
Something offputting, save a life, save a marriage.
Tell me please.