All of my friends know that I don’t watch horror movies (unless forced by peer pressure), so it is a little bit surprising that I own a copy of What the #@% Is That? Let’s clear the air: I bought this copy to support my friend, whose short story was published in this collection. (I haven’t gotten to it though; I want to see the whole book through.) So far so good.
Scott Sigler’s “Those Gaddam Cookies” is a story of a captain and his crew, with one of his crew members being an amazing baker. Unfortunately our baker prodigy has been out sick for days, so the captain must investigate. I mean, how can he be so sick he has to skip work but can find the time and energy to bake those gaddam cookies?!
Sometimes all I want from a story is a quirky detail to focus on—in this case, those gaddam cookies and the coolness of a space expedition. The characters’ obsession with the baked goods provided a lot of entertainment value, even if the story was a bit twisted. (After all, this is a short story in a horror collection.) The story also touches on some questions on morality, proving that even a crew on a spaceship are not above regular human problems.
As a huge fan of chocolate chip cookies, I approve of this story. But now I also want cookies.
[…] which I only read in the daytime. Not all of the stories involve creepy ghosts—I’d say Those Gaddam Cookies was more extra-terrestrial—but I’m not taking any chances. (Never again. Not after that one […]
[…] done with scaring myself. Yet here I am still seeing What the #@$% is That? through… (See Those Gaddam Cookies and Little Widow for other short stories in the […]