Tag: Jack Ridl

October 2024 Books and Reading Notes

John Winkelman

October was quite busy so I didn’t read as much as I would have liked. But what I did read was most excellent!

Acquisitions

Books acquired in the month of October 2024.

  1. Morgan Talty, Fire Exit (And Other Stories) [2024.10.02]
  2. Michael J. DeLuca, The Jaguar Mask (Stelliform Press) [2024.10.06]
  3. Dave Klecha and Tobias J. Buckell, The Runes of Engagement (Tachyon Publications) [2024.10.06]

Reading List

Books

Books I read in October 2024.

  1. Jorge Luis Borges – Conversations [2024.10.10]
  2. Dave Klecha and Tobias J. Buckell, The Runes of Engagement [2024.10.14]
  3. Jack Ridl, All At Once [2024.10.17]
  4. Norah Lange, Notes from Childhood [2024.10.25]

Weekly Round-up, October 19, 2024

John Winkelman

Painted stones fond beside the Dragon Trail at Hardy Dam.

[Painted stones found beside the Dragon Trail at Hardy Dam.]

This past week was hectic. Far more hectic than I would have expected on a week off. But my week off coincided with the kickoff of a new project, which I am leading, so I had to pop in to a couple of meetings when I would much rather have been walking in the woods or otherwise not staring at a computer screen or listening to other people talk.

But I did manage to accomplish some of the things I set out to work on for the week. My house is slightly improved. Our cats are verified healthy. I am too, as of my first physical in over a decade.

Reading

I finished the Borges interviews, and for a change of pace picked up Runes of Engagement by Dave Klecha and Tobias S. Buckell. I know Klecha from the ConFusion science fiction convention, where we are both volunteers and occasional members of the ConCom, and he has been most helpful as I learn the ins and outs of helping to manage a science fiction convention. I met Buckell at ConFusion several years ago. He is a Righteous Dude.

Runes of Engagement was a fun read, and light, and I finished it in a couple of days. Next I read Jack Ridl’s new poetry collection All At Once, which was absolutely beautiful. Some of the poems moved me to tears, which almost never happens. Ridl is a treasure.

Now I am reading Norah Lange‘s Notes from Childhood, which I acquired several years ago from my subscription to And Other Stories. I might have missed this one, except that Lange is mentioned more than once in the Borges interview collection, and so was floating near the surface of my subconscious.

Writing

With my little extra free time I began organizing my notes for the upcoming Month of Writing. Since I am no longer participating in National Novel Writing Month, I am instead participating in “That November Thing”, an event coordinated by the West Michigan Author Alliance, that which used to be the Ottawa County/Grand Rapids region for NaNoWriMo.

Weekly Writing Prompt

Subject: Apocalypse, Precursors
Setting: Battlefield
Genre: Lovecraftian

Listening

Interesting Links

Weekly Round-up, October 12, 2024

John Winkelman

Poe and Pepper, living their best life.

[Lazy Cats]

Once again I was cruelly and unjustly snubbed for both a MacArthur Genius Grant and the Nobel Prize for Literature. The fact that I have done nothing noteworthy should not disqualify me from the selection process.

Reading

I just finished the collection of interviews with Jorge Luis Borges, and will likely soon start browsing my collections of his fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. So many brilliant ideas. So much brilliant writing.

I am now reading All At Once, Jack Ridl‘s new collection of poetry which was just published by CavanKerry Press.

Writing

I am ramping up my note-taking and world-building for the November Project. Since I am not officially participating in NaNoWriMo until they de-shittify the organization, I am instead working with

Weekly Writing Prompt

Subject: Robots, Death
Setting: Bar
Genre: Cyberpunk

Listening

A little something different here.

Interesting Links

September 2024 Books and Reading Notes

John Winkelman

In contrast with last month, September was an excellent month for short fiction. I have dozens of issues of various magazines and journals lying around my house unread, as well as probably close to 100 anthologies and short story collections awaiting my attention.  Any progress is better than no progress.

Acquisitions

Books acquired in September 2024

  1. Cassie Hart, Sloane Leong (editors), Death in the Mouth, vol. 2 [2024.09.12]
  2. Neil Kaufman, Darkness Is as Light To You [2024.09.21]
  3. Dorothy Roberts, Killing the Black Body [2024.09.26]
  4. Jack Ridl, All at Once (CavanKerry Press) [2024.09.28]

Reading List

Books read in September 2024

Books

  1. Fleur Jaeggy, I Am the Brother of XX [2024.09.05]
  2. Dreamforge #2 [2024.09.14]
  3. Dreamforge #3 [2024.09.16]
  4. Dreamforge #4 [2024.09.22]
  5. Neil Kaufman, Darkness Is as Light To You [2024.09.24]

Short Prose

  1. Fleur Jaeggy, “I Am the Brother of XX”, I Am the Brother of XX [2024.09.01]
  2. Fleur Jaeggy, “Negde”, I Am the Brother of XX [2024.09.02]
  3. Fleur Jaeggy, “The Last of the Line”, I Am the Brother of XX [2024.09.02]
  4. Fleur Jaeggy, “The Gentleman and the Lizard”, I Am the Brother of XX [2024.09.03]
  5. Fleur Jaeggy, “Agnes”, I Am the Brother of XX [2024.09.03]
  6. Fleur Jaeggy, “The Aseptic Room”, I Am the Brother of XX [2024.09.03]
  7. Fleur Jaeggy, “The Heir”, I Am the Brother of XX [2024.09.03]
  8. Fleur Jaeggy, “Portrait of an Unknown Woman”, I Am the Brother of XX [2024.09.03]
  9. Fleur Jaeggy, “The Black Lace Veil”, I Am the Brother of XX [2024.09.04]
  10. Fleur Jaeggy, “An Encounter in the Bronx”, I Am the Brother of XX [2024.09.04]
  11. Fleur Jaeggy, “The Aviary”, I Am the Brother of XX [2024.09.04]
  12. Fleur Jaeggy, “The Visitor”, I Am the Brother of XX [2024.09.04]
  13. Fleur Jaeggy, “Adelaide”, I Am the Brother of XX [2024.09.05]
  14. Fleur Jaeggy, “Tropics”, I Am the Brother of XX [2024.09.05]
  15. Fleur Jaeggy, “Cat”, I Am the Brother of XX [2024.09.05]
  16. Fleur Jaeggy, “Osmosis”, I Am the Brother of XX [2024.09.05]
  17. Fleur Jaeggy, “Names”, I Am the Brother of XX [2024.09.05]
  18. Fleur Jaeggy, “The Hanging Angel”, I Am the Brother of XX [2024.09.05]
  19. Fleur Jaeggy, “The Perfect Choice”, I Am the Brother of XX [2024.09.05]
  20. Fleur Jaeggy, “FK”, I Am the Brother of XX [2024.09.05]
  21. Fleur Jaeggy, “The Saltwater House”, I Am the Brother of XX [2024.09.05]
  22. Alyssa Eckles, “Home”, Dreamforge #2 [2024.09.06]
  23. Andrew Jensen, “Sid”, Dreamforge#2 [2024.09.08]
  24. Marie Vibbert, “Loitering with Mathematical Intent”, Dreamforge#2 [2024.09.09]
  25. Tyler Tork, “Tea with Gibbons”, Dreamforge#2 [2024.09.09]
  26. L.P. Melling, “Luna’s First Eclipse”, Dreamforge#2 [2024.09.09]
  27. Blake Jessop, “I See Punk Elephants”, Dreamforge#2 [2024.09.09]
  28. G.M. Periera, “Sudan”, Dreamforge#2 [2024.09.09]
  29. Gregory L. Norris, “Hysterical”, Dreamforge#2 [2024.09.09]
  30. Michael McCormick, “Snow, 2562”, Dreamforge#2 [2024.09.09]
  31. Adam Fout, “We Are Cherished”, Dreamforge#2 [2024.09.09]
  32. Mark Gallacher, “Pioneer”, Dreamforge#2 [2024.09.09]
  33. Lif Strand, “Being Me”, Dreamforge#2 [2024.09.09]
  34. Davide Mana, “Sapiens”, Dreamforge#2 [2024.09.10]
  35. Deborah L. Davitt, “Arcology”, Dreamforge#2 [2024.09.10]
  36. Lucy Stone, “Haunting the Present”, Dreamforge#2 [2024.09.11]
  37. Emily Mah, “Wrath of a Lightweight”, Dreamforge#2 [2024.09.13]
  38. L. Deni Colter, “The Weight of Mountains”, Dreamforge#2 [2024.09.14]
  39. David Weber, “A Certain Talent”, Dreamforge#2 [2024.09.14]
  40. Jane Linskold, “A Question of Truth”, Dreamforge #3 [2024.09.14]
  41. Gustavo Bondoni, “A Sip of Pombé”, Dreamforge #3 [2024.09.15]
  42. Isaac E. Payne, “Esclados the Red”, Dreamforge #3 [2024.09.15]
  43. Hal Y. Zhang, “The Specular Boy”, Dreamforge #3 [2024.09.15]
  44. Scott Paul Hallam, “Fire in the Sky”, Dreamforge #3 [2024.09.15]
  45. Mary Soon Lee, “Wrong Turn”, Dreamforge #3 [2024.09.15]
  46. Jennifer R. Donohue, “Fundamentals of Search and Rescue”, Dreamforge #3 [2024.09.15]
  47. Josh Rountree, “Revolutions Per Minute”, Dreamforge #3 [2024.09.16]
  48. George Nikolopoulos, “Our New Home in the Stars”, Dreamforge #3 [2024.09.16]
  49. Jim C. Hines, “On the Efficacy of Supervillain Battles in Eliciting Therapeutic Breakthroughs” (Patreon) [2024.09.16]
  50. John Jos. Miller, “The Ghost of a Smile”, Dreamforge #4 [2024.09.17]
  51. Marie Croke, “Cessation of Civilization”, Dreamforge #4 [2024.09.17]
  52. Kurt Pankau, “Autoimmune”, Dreamforge #4 [2024.09.18]
  53. Gary Kloster, “Hot Times in Shady Pines”, Dreamforge #4 [2024.09.18]
  54. Anna Madden, “The Last Petal”, Dreamforge #4 [2024.09.21]
  55. Sally Wiener Grotta, “Beyond Our Hidden Stars”, Dreamforge #4 [2024.09.22]
  56. Robert E. Harpold, “Extremophile”, Dreamforge #4 [2024.09.22]
  57. Donald S. Crankshaw, “Dreamforger”, Dreamforge #4 [2024.09.22]

Warm Days are Good Days for Reading

John Winkelman

A little while ago, and for the first time this year, I sat out on my porch and wrote in my journal. The warm weather isn’t expected to last, but I will take every minute I can get.

The first week of April was another fairly quiet week here at Winkelman Abbey. I picked up four new books, three of which are new purchases.

On the left is issue 2 of Michael J. DeLuca‘s fine journal Reckoning, which publishes “creative writing on environmental justice.” I picked up issue 1 at ConFusion back in January, where I also met and shared beers with Mr. DeLuca (as well as several other excellent folks from the genre writing community).

Next is the second volume of the Breakbeat Poets anthology, Black Girl Magic. I picked up volume 1 when my significant other and I visited City Lights Books in June of 2018. I love these anthologies! They are full of powerful, important work which I would almost certainly have never encountered otherwise.

Third up is the revised edition of Conversations with Jim Harrison, a collection of interviews with the late poet and author. I picked up the first edition seven or eight years ago, and read it ferociously, writing down every book, poet, writer and recipe Mr. Harrison mentioned through several dozen interviews. This edition includes additional material up to Harrison’s death in late March of 2016.

Last up is I Am the Abyss, a collection of dark fiction novellas from a Kickstarter campaign I contributed to about three years ago. Things (as they often do) Happened, and production was delayed and further delayed. But the book has finally been released, and it is a thing of beauty! Nine novellas, each with its own custom artwork, all in a very well-produced, high-quality paperback.

In reading news, I finished The Monster Baru Cormorant at around 10:30 in the evening on March 31, thus opening the way for the stack of poetry books I am working my way through during National Poetry Month. So far I have completed the fiftieth anniversary edition of Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s A Coney Island of the Mind; Jack Ridl’s latest collection Saint Peter and the Goldfinch, and sam sax’s remarkable book madness. I am currently partway through When the Moon Knows You’re Wandering by Ruth Ellen Kocher.

Speaking of Jack Ridl, this past Friday I attended the Saint Peter and the Goldfinch book release party in Douglas, Michigan. It was a small quiet affair – Mr. Ridl and his family and over 200 of his closest friends filled the Douglas UCC Church to overflowing for a three hour event full of music and poetry and good fellowship. Jack was accompanied on stage by the superb John Shea Trio, who occasionally joined him for, as he put it, “poetry with jazz, rather than jazz poetry.”

Best of all? Jack signed my book.

During National Poetry Month I am tweeting brief snippets of poems from each of the poets we have published in the pages of The 3288 Review. I was going to do one a day but, well, we have published far too many poets for that to work, so each day I am tweeting out, oh, several, give or take.

It feels good to go back through the several years of publication and see the work which has inspired me to participate in the West Michigan literary community. It really feels like…home.

The First Book Post of Spring

John Winkelman

The first (partial) week of spring brought with it only two books, but really, no book is *only* a book.

On the left is Saint Peter and the Goldfinch, the new collection from West Michigan’s own Jack Ridl. I will be attending the book launch party in a couple of weeks and am sincerely looking forward to seeing Jack again, as well as the other members of the West Michigan literary community.

On the right is The Boy by Marcus Malte, the latest delivery from my subscription to Restless Books. According to LibraryThing, I now own 34 Restless Books titles. One day I may even read all of them.

Today is the 100th (!) birthday of Lawrence Ferlinghetti. That he is still alive is extraordinary. That he is still writing is astonishing! His latest book, Little Boy, was released just a few of days ago. I have not yet picked it up. In reviewing my collection I see that I am unfortunately light in the Ferlinghetti department. I have the fiftieth anniversary edition of A Coney Island of the Mind, and his book of travel journals, Writing Across the Landscape. I should probably pick up a couple more in the near future.

Ferlinghetti was never a tremendous influence on my, directly. Indirectly, of course, with the creation of City Lights Publishing, as well as his involvement with the beat poetry scene, and the broader scene in general, it was impossible to NOT be influenced by him in some way or another.

Not long after I started working at Schuler Books & Music (which at the time was simply called Schuler Books), a bunch of us writerly employees got together to watch Poetry in Motion. I had had very little experience with poetry (other than a brief overview of The Canon in college) at the time, being much more interested in high fantasy and hard science fiction, so this film blew my mind wide open. I think we watched it not long after Charles Bukowski died. Definitely before Ginsberg died. I was grabbing coffee in Socrates Cafe here in Grand Rapids when I heard of Ginsberg’s passing. I was only passing familiar with Ginsberg’s work at the time, but it still had an impact.

In reading news, I am approaching the end of The Monster Baru Cormorant. I expected to be finished by now, but I have been distracted by poetry collections from W.S. Merwin, the aforementioned Jack Ridl, and Mary Oliver. Also on a whim I pulled down Laurus by Eugene Vodolazkin, and immediately fell in love. I still plan to finish The Monster Baru Cormorant by the end of the month, but now my plan of only reading poetry for the upcoming National Poetry Month is in jeopardy. Laurus is just that good.

Finally, here is Ferlinghetti’s poem “I Am Waiting,” from A Coney Island of the Mind.