The Nightmare Life-In-Death in My Story . . .

Life-in-Death
Gustav Doré
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Readers may recall the Eve/eve confusion in my story, "The Bottomless Bottle of Beer," so I think that I should note one other typo or software glitch in the published version of my story as it appears in Emanations: Second Sight -- just to set the record straight -- so here's the passage:

At those words of life in death from Mr. Em, I recalled the lovely lithe Hella's sharp teeth and shuddered inwardly as my blood thickened with cold and my thirst decreased. Mr. Em had said a bit too much. "I'm afraid I don't yet know all of the consequences even now," I finally said, recorking the bottle and reluctantly turning it over to Mr. Em. (Horace Jeffery Hodges, "The Bottomless Bottle of Beer," Emanations: Second Sight, edited by Carter Kaplan, page 160)

The verb "thickened" should read "thicked," which is not standard, I admit, but I had a reason, namely, an allusion to The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Part Three, Stanza Eleven:

The Night-Mare LIFE-IN-DEATH was she,
Who thicks man's blood with cold.

Since I was alluding to these two lines, I took "thick" as my verb and thus formed the past tense as "thicked." This over-correction -- possibly due to overzealous software (Microsoft Word, for instance, is forever 'correcting' my English) -- is not so dreadful, but I prefer the original for its clearer connection to Coleridge's poem.

I'll check the final proofs in the book version . . .