Tuesday, April 27, 2021

Two Truths and a Lie, by Sarah Pinsker

Tor.com, June 2020

Stella, while home on a visit after years away from her hometown, attends the funeral of an old friend's older brother, and agrees to help him clean out the brother's house. He was a serious hoarder, and Stella is glad she only committed to one day of the exhausting and disturbing experience. One thing we need to know about Stella is that she has a habit of making up lies, not for any particular reason, but simply to see if people believe her.. When she asks her friend, Marco, if he remembers a Saturday morning kids' show called The Uncle Bob Show, she expects him to say he doesn't, because she made it up.

But he does remember it. His brother, Denny, was on it, more than once. The tapes of those episodes are among the "treasures" Marco has uncovered so far, and he starts playing them. It's not your normal Saturday morning kids' show, and Stella is creeped out.

She's more creeped out when she goes back to her parents' house, and they remember it, too. They remember Stella being on it.

Stella doesn't remember that. She starts digging for more information about the show and its very odd host, and the more she digs, the creepier it gets.

This is a very odd story, and Stella is not that easy to like, or care about. And did I mention creepy?

Definitely not my cup of tea.

I bought this story.

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