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Maury Estabrooks's avatar

Mr. Blockhead took me back to the cinematic gem, Nightmare Alley by Guillermo Del Toro (GDT). I saw it in 2021 both in color and black & white in the theater. GDT adapted the 1947 book of the same name combined with his own childhood memories of road show carnival acts. I wonder if GDT ever met Mr. Blockhead.

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Claudia Dawson's avatar

This story will stay with me forever! Thank you for sharing it, and I love Sarina's illustration!

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Mark Frauenfelder's avatar

Thank you, Claudia! I have a lot of stories from the two summers I worked at the carnival. Some were happier, some weren't!

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Claudia Dawson's avatar

You as a carny is the coolest thing I've heard in a while. Please share more!

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itsmepete's avatar

Thank you for that. Love the illustration too.

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Martin Olson's avatar

This is my fav moment out of many fav moments with The Magnet's weird, dazzling content. Mr. Blockhead sounds like a precursor to the great contemporary carny performer Todd Robbins, whom I met writing for Penn & Teller's show. It also reminded me of Ray B's weird, scary, original short story The Illustrated Man, which his story collection was based on. Bravo again to this amazing newsletter/blog. So fun and entertaining.

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Steve Hunter's avatar

Not really what I expect from this newsletter. Need some closure on the story……

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Mark Frauenfelder's avatar

I wish there was closure, too. I don’t know what happened and I think about it often.

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Dav's avatar

Someone needs to fanfic this to an ending, this is ruining me.

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Shimmering Trashpile's avatar

Love it! * checks phone... wonders if Mr. Blockhead could wolf it down... *

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