WELCOME TO DECEMBER PROJECT! 
 last year, amy(other amy) tipped me off to this cool thing she was doing: the short story advent calendar, where you sign up to this thingie here and you get a free story each day. 
 i dropped the ball and by the time i came to my senses, it had already sold out, so for december project, i'm going rogue and just reading a free online story a day of my choosing. this foolhardy endeavor is going to screw up my already-deep-in-the-weeds review backlog, so i don't think i will be reviewing each individual story "properly." i might just do a picture review or - if i am feeling wicked motivated, i will draw something, but i can't be treating each short story like a real book and spending half my day examining and dissecting it, so we'll just see what shape this project takes as we go. 
 and if you know of any particularly good short stories available free online, let me know! i'm no good at finding them myself unless they're on the tor.com site, and i only have enough at this stage of the game to fill half my calendar. 
 DECEMBER 9 
 Too many sweets weren't good for you. 
 wow. 
 i'm sorry, but stephen king is a damn good writer. sure, he gets carried away sometimes and his books get all bloated and editors are wary of trimming his fat because he's stephen freaking king, but when he's on, it's such an enjoyable reading experience. i mean, come on - he made cookies ominous. 
 this is one of those stories that builds tension and the reader isn't sure if it's gonna go to IT-town and explode into terror, or if it's just going to be quietly unsettling, but the journey towards the answer to that question is absolutely delightful. great pacing, great imagination, just a really fun story that is totally free for your eyes! 
 read it for yourself here: 
 http://www.vqronline.org/fiction/2016... 
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