Girls Without Their Faces On is a story first featured in the 2018 anthology [Ashes and Entropy](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41459079-ashes-and-entropy) and later released in the collection [[Not A Speck Of Light (Book)]]. --- ### __Main Characters__ The story takes place in [[Alaska]] stars recurring characters [[Delia]] and her boyfriend [[J]]. This J is probably Smiling J (as oppossed to Steely J, if these are separate characters). Delia mentions her sister graduating from Onager High School, which is the high school from [[Swift To Chase (Book)]] stories such as [[Andy Kaufman Creeping through the Trees]] and [[Tomahawk Park Survivors Raffle]]. In the story [[Don't Make Me Assume My Ultimate Form]], a woman named Delia (also known as Dee Dee Gamma) meets up with her old high school classmates Liz Lochinvar and Indra Norse, who we know went to Onager High as well. I think we can safely assume that the Delia from this story is the same person as Delia from Don't Make Me Assume My Ultimate Form. In the story, Delia owns a [[Dogs|dog]] named Atticus. Atticus is a recurring dog name (or maybe a recurring dog?) in Barron's works, also appearing as [[Jessica Mace]]'s dog in [[Termination Dust]] and the family dog in the story [[The One We Tell Bad Children]]. --- ### __Other Stuff__ In the story, J talks about an extinction event caused by Planet X and it's star Nemesis. This references a scientific theory, [orginally posed in the 1980's](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nemesis_(hypothetical_star)). Planet X and Nemesis are recurring subjects in Barron's stories. The story [[Nemesis]] talks of an apocalyptic event known as The Whimper, which might be the same thing. In the story, Delia asks J: _"What's a Flat Affect Man?"_ The [[Flat Affect Men]] are recurring monsters in Barron's stories and are definitely tied to the character of J and his partnership with the [[Tooms]] family. Funnily enough, in the story [[Ode to Joad the Toad]], an [[Antiquity]] alter ego of Delia herself is in control of a group of Flat Affect Men. Someone in the story mentions a phenomenon that we might relate to the events in the story [[LD50]]: "Dog mutilations. So many doggy murders. I sorta hate dogs, but really, chopping off their paws is too damned far." (Not A Speck Of Light, p. ) In the same conversation, there might be a reference to the alien entity known as The [[Gray Eminence]], but I'm not sure. One of the story's characters, Barry F, is an business acquaintance of J. He is described as being the senior executive of a succesful mining company. The novel [[The Croning]] features a man named Barry who is an executive for the company AstraCorp, but his last name is Rourke and he lives in [[Washington State]]. There's some similarities, but I don't think they're the same character. Anyone else do a double take when reading this sentence, combining [[Termination Dust|'termination dust']] and [[Andy Kaufman Creeping through the Trees|'creeping through the trees']]? "Termination dust gleamed upon the Chugach peaks, on its way down like a shroud, creeping ever lower through the trees." Fun stuff. #Story #Speck