title: Bluebeard's Goat and Other Stories
author: H. L. Mencken
description: The flamboyant critic Mencken, one of the most prominent literary figures of his day, once remarked, Criticism is prejudice made plausible. Readers seeking the brilliant wit that, in Mencken's nonfiction, succeeded in unmasking hypocrites, had better skip this short fiction, wherein the author makes no effort to mask his prejudices. Mencken grazes on raw irritation, not so much with politicians or the pious, but with underlings of various races, and especially women. Even if he could be forgiven for being a product of his time, the stories, written between 1900 and 1919, are not only tainted by but feed on misogyny. Perhaps these moments, horrid despite the author's superb, clever, or hilarious use of language, are best thought of as social history. Read Epithalamium, a sendup of the social rigmarole of marriage for its exquisite choice of words ( the nuptial mass or other such ecclesiastical and incomprehensible ceremonial ), or the Poe-esque The Window of Horrors, about a clothier and his obsession with life-like mannequins, for its chills. For quintessential Mencken, read The Man of God, whose lowly grocer becomes an evangelist. Avoid the title story about a cad who, after an afternoon with yet another mistress, buys a bunch of violets, and then with a brisk step hurries on home to his wife. (Dec. 4)
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  **SUCCUBUS TRIALS: THE REBUTTAL**
  
   **SUCCUBUS HAREM PART 36**
  
  Copyright © 2020 by L.L. Frost
  
  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
  distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including
  photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without
  the prior written permission of the writer, except in the case of brief
  quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses
  permitted by copyright law.
  
  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and
  incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a
  fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or
  actual events is purely coincidental.
  
  Cover design by L.L. Frost
  
  Book design by L.L. Frost
  
  Printed in the United States of America.
  
  First Printing, 2020
  
  > CONTENTS
  
  >  _And The Goat_
  
  >  _Vessel Under Pressure_
  
  >  _Witness Most Honorable_
  
  >  _Plan B_
  
  > 