Tag: Kameron Hurley

May 2025 Books and Reading Notes

John Winkelman

May was a pretty good month for both reading and acquiring reading material. A brief illness over the Memorial Day weekend allowed me more quiet time, and I took advantage of it by binge-reading the excellent Kraken Rider Z books. This was the first time I binge-read a series in at least a decade. Highly recommended.

Acquisitions

Books and magazines purchased in the month of May 2025

  1. Jim Harrison, The Theory and Practice of Rivers (Copper Canyon Press) [2025.05.06] – Purchased from the publisher.
  2. Frank O’Hara, Lunch Poems (City Lights Books) [2025.05.07] – Purchased from The Book Nook and Java Shop in Montague, Michigan
  3. Jack Hirschman, Front Lines: Selected Poems (City Lights Books) [2025.05.07] – Purchased from The Book Nook and Java Shop in Montague, Michigan
  4. Naomi Klein, Doppelganger [2025.05.09] – Purchased from Books and Mortar in Grand Rapids, Michigan
  5. Soliloquey #2 [2025.05.13] – Purchased from the author at a Grand River Poetry Collective meeting.
  6. Dan Davies, The Unaccountability Machine: Why Big Systems Make Terrible Decisions and How the World Lost Its Mind (The University of Chicago Press) [2025.05.19] – Purchased from the publisher after reading about it in a comment on a Naked Capitalism post.
  7. Metal Hurlant #1 [2025.05.20] – From a Kickstarter campaign run by the publisher.
  8. SJ Kim, This Part is Silent – A Life Between Cultures (And Other Stories) [2025.05.23] – Received from the publisher.
  9. Heavy Metal #001 [2025.05.27]

Reading List

Books read in the month of May 2025

Books

  1. Robin McLean, Get ’em Young, Treat ’em Tough, Tell ’em Nothing [2025.05.08]
  2. Frank O’Hara, Lunch Poems [2025.05.13]
  3. Soliloquy #2 [2025.05.19]
  4. Dyrk Ashton and David Estes, Kraken Rider Z [2025.05.24]
  5. Dyrk Ashton and David Estes, Kraken Rider Z: Thunder Kraken [2025.05.26]
  6. Jack Hirschman, Front Lines: Selected Poems [2025.05.31]

Short Prose

  1. Kameron Hurley, “When the Stars Fell” (Patreon post) [2025.05.01]
  2. Jim C. Hines, “Launch Day Milkshakes” (Patreon post) [2025.05.01]
  3. Kameron Hurley, “The Wake” (Patreon post) [2025.05.01]
  4. Kameron Hurley, “The Sea of Ruin” (Patreon post) [2025.05.01]
  5. Robin McLean, “Get ’em Young, treat ’em Tough, Tell ’em Nothing”, Get ’em Young, Treat ’em Tough, Tell ’em Nothing [2025.05.02]
  6. Robin McLean, “True Carnivores”, Get ’em Young, Treat ’em Tough, Tell ’em Nothing [2025.05.02]
  7. Robin McLean, “Big Black Man”, Get ’em Young, Treat ’em Tough, Tell ’em Nothing [2025.05.02]
  8. Robin McLean, “Judas Cradle”, Get ’em Young, Treat ’em Tough, Tell ’em Nothing [2025.05.03]
  9. Robin McLean, “Cat”, Get ’em Young, Treat ’em Tough, Tell ’em Nothing [2025.05.03]
  10. Robin McLean, “House Full of Feasting”, Get ’em Young, Treat ’em Tough, Tell ’em Nothing [2025.05.04]
  11. Robin McLean, “Cliff Ordeal”, Get ’em Young, Treat ’em Tough, Tell ’em Nothing [2025.05.06]
  12. Robin McLean, “Alpha”, Get ’em Young, Treat ’em Tough, Tell ’em Nothing [2025.05.08]
  13. Jim C. Hines, “The Haunting of Jig’s Ear” (Patreon post) [2025.05.19]
  14. Frey Lylark, “Changeling” (Patreon post by Apex Book Company) [2025.05.20]

 

February 2025 Books and Reading Notes

John Winkelman

At long last, over two months since I cracked it open, I finally finished Doctor Zhivago. It was a long read – mostly beautiful, occasionally frustrating, and above all definitely worth the effort.

Now I am reading short fiction, to help reset my brain. Currently I am working my way through The Evergreen Review Reader, 1957 – 1966, which, in addition to being full of superb short prose and poetry, is an interesting time-capsule of the state of literature almost seventy years ago.

Acquisitions

The Blaft Book of Anti-Caste Speculative Science Fiction

  1. R.T. Samuel, Rakesh K., Rashmi R.D. (editors), The Blaft Book of Anti-Caste SF (Blaft Publications)

Reading List

Doctor Zhivago, by Boris Pasternak

Books

  1. Boris Pasternak, Doctor Zhivago [2025.02.14]

Short Prose

  1. Jim C. Hines, “Kitemaster” (Patreon post) [2025.02.11]
  2. Samuel Beckett, “Dante and the Lobster”, The Evergreen Review Reader, 1957 – 1966 [2025.02.14]
  3. Jack Kerouac, “October in the Railroad Earth”, The Evergreen Review Reader, 1957 – 1966 [2025.02.14]
  4. Patsy Southgate, “A Very Important Lady”, The Evergreen Review Reader, 1957 – 1966 [2025.02.16] – [Note: I could find almost no information at all on Patsy Southgate online. Anything I found was as a side note to other writers and creative types. The two obituaries I could find, from 1998, were behind paywalls. Perhaps I will gather some sources and put together a Wikipedia page.]
  5. Kameron Hurley, “At the Crossroads of Many Futures” (Patreon post) [2025.02.16]
  6. Tobias S. Buckell, “The Last Cathedral of Earth, In Flight” (Patreon post) [2025.02.17]
  7. Alexander Trocchi, “From Cain’s Book“, The Evergreen Review Reader, 1957 – 1966 [2025.02.18]
  8. John Rechy, “From City of Night“, The Evergreen Review Reader, 1957 – 1966 [2025.02.18]
  9. William Eastlake, “Portrait of an Artist with Twenty-Six Horses”, The Evergreen Review Reader, 1957 – 1966 [2025.02.18]
  10. Carlos Fuentes (Lysander Kemp, translator), “The Life Line”, The Evergreen Review Reader, 1957 – 1966 [2025.02.21]
  11. Juan Rulfo (Lysander Kemp, translator), “From Pedro Páramo“, The Evergreen Review Reader, 1957 – 1966 [2025.02.22]
  12. Octavio Paz, “Todos Santos, Día de Muertos”, The Evergreen Review Reader, 1957 – 1966 [2025.02.24]
  13. Henry Miller, “Defense of the Freedom to Read”, The Evergreen Review Reader, 1957 – 1966 [2025.02.24]
  14. William Eastlake, “Three Heroes and a Clown”, The Evergreen Review Reader, 1957 – 1966 [2025.02.25]
  15. Terry Southern, “Red-Dirt Marihuana”, The Evergreen Review Reader, 1957 – 1966 [2025.02.25]
  16. William S. Burroughs, “Deposition: Testimony Concerning a Sickness”, The Evergreen Review Reader, 1957 – 1966 [2025.02.26]
  17. Eugène Ionesco, “Foursome”, The Evergreen Review Reader, 1957 – 1966 [2025.02.26]
  18. Martin Williams, “Charlie Parker: The Burden of Innovation”, The Evergreen Review Reader, 1957 – 1966 [2025.02.28]

June 2022 Reading List

John Winkelman

What I read in June 2022

I finally made it through all of the back issues of Poetry Magazine I have been collecting for the past decade. Forty-some issues, read and appreciated and ready to be archived. Now I am working my way through back issues of The Paris Review, and enjoying the experience. I will likely let my subscription lapse at the end of the year, or go to digital-only, which gives me access to the entire online archives, which is an AMAZING resource. But no more physical copies.

Books and Journals

  1. Poetry Magazine #219.2 (November 2021) [2022.06.01]
  2. Poetry Magazine #219.3 (December 2021) [2022.06.03]
  3. Poetry Magazine #219.4 (January 2022) [2022.06.05]
  4. Hurley, Kameron, Future Artifacts: Stories [2022.06.05]
  5. Voices 2022 [2022.06.06]
  6. Poetry Magazine #219.5 (February 2022) [2022.06.06]
  7. Poetry Magazine #219.6 (March 2022) [2022.06.07]
  8. Poetry Magazine #220.1 (April 2022) [2022.06.09]
  9. Poetry Magazine #220.2 (May 2022) [2022.06.09]
  10. Poetry Magazine #220.3 (June 2022) [2022.06.09]
  11. Hariharan, Githa, Almost Home [2022.06.17]
  12. The Paris Review #215 [2022.06.18]
  13. The Paris Review #216 [2022.06.23]
  14. Monáe, Janelle, The Memory Librarian [2022.06.26]
  15. The Paris Review #217 [2022.06.26]
  16. The Paris Review #218 [2022.06.29]
  17. Poetry Magazine #220.4 (July/August 2022) [2022.06.30]

Short Prose

  1. Hurley, Kameron, “The Judgment of Gods and Monsters”, Future Artifacts: Stories [2022.06.02]
  2. Hurley, Kameron, “Broker of Souls”, Future Artifacts: Stories [2022.06.03]
  3. Hurley, Kameron, “The One We Feed”, Future Artifacts: Stories [2022.06.03]
  4. Hurley, Kameron, “Corpse Soldier”, Future Artifacts: Stories [2022.06.03]
  5. Hurley, Kameron, “Levianthan”, Future Artifacts: Stories [2022.06.03]
  6. Hurley, Kameron, “Unblooded”, Future Artifacts: Stories [2022.06.03]
  7. Hurley, Kameron, “The Skulls of Our Fathers”, Future Artifacts: Stories [2022.06.03]
  8. Hurley, Kameron, “Body Politic”, Future Artifacts: Stories [2022.06.04]
  9. Hurley, Kameron, “We Burn”, Future Artifacts: Stories [2022.06.04]
  10. Hurley, Kameron, “Antibodies”, Future Artifacts: Stories [2022.06.04]
  11. Hurley, Kameron, “The Traitor Lords”, Future Artifacts: Stories [2022.06.04]
  12. Hurley, Kameron, “Wonder Maul Doll”, Future Artifacts: Stories [2022.06.05]
  13. Hurley, Kameron, “Our Prisoners, the Stars”, Future Artifacts: Stories [2022.06.05]
  14. Hurley, Kameron, “The Body Remembers”, Future Artifacts: Stories [2022.06.05]
  15. Hurley, Kameron, “Moontide”, Future Artifacts: Stories [2022.06.05]
  16. Hurley, Kameron, “Citizens of Elsewhen”, Future Artifacts: Stories [2022.06.05]
  17. Hariharan, Githa, “Seven Cities and AnyCity”, Almost Home [2022.06.07]
  18. Freudenberger, Nell, “Found Objects“, The Paris Review #215 [2022.06.09]
  19. Hariharan, Githa, “Two Cities of Victory”, Almost Home [2022.06.12]
  20. Martin, Andrew, “With the Christopher Kids“, The Paris Review #215 [2022.06.13]
  21. Hariharan, Githa, “Toda Cafe Blues”, Almost Home [2022.06.14]
  22. Szalay, David, “Lascia Amor e siegui Marte”, The Paris Review #215 [2022.06.15]
  23. Bachelder, Chris, “The Throwback Special, part 3”, The Paris Review #215 [2022.06.16]
  24. Hariharan, Githa, “Mapping Freedom”, Almost Home [2022.06.17]
  25. Hariharan, Githa, “Speaking in Haiku”, Almost Home [2022.06.17]
  26. Hariharan, Githa, “Trailblazing in Andalusa”, Almost Home [2022.06.17]
  27. Hariharan, Githa, “Looking for a Nation, Looking at the Nation”, Almost Home [2022.06.17]
  28. Hariharan, Githa, “Bittersweet Danish”, Almost Home [2022.06.17]
  29. Hariharan, Githa, “Seeing Palestine”, Almost Home [2022.06.17]
  30. Hariharan, Githa, “Almost Home”, Almost Home [2022.06.17]
  31. Bischel, Peter, “Two Stories”, The Paris Review #215 [2022.06.17]
  32. Sorrentino, Christopher, “Apparition of Danhoff”, The Paris Review #215 [2022.06.18]
  33. Hale, Benjamin, “Don’t Worry Baby”, The Paris Review #216 [2022.06.18]
  34. Zevi, Anne-Laure (Angel, Mitzi, translator), “Nom”, The Paris Review #216 [2022.06.18]
  35. Teicher, Craig Morgan, “Four Stories”, The Paris Review #216 [2022.06.19]
  36. Beach, Jensen, “Migration”, The Paris Review #216 [2022.06.20]
  37. Gombrowicz, Witold (Bhambry, Tul’si, translator), “The Tragic Tale of the Baron and His Wife”, The Paris Review #216 [2022.06.21]
  38. Johnson, Dana, “She Deserves Everything She Gets”, The Paris Review #216 [2022.06.21]
  39. Monáe, Janelle and Johnson, Alaya Dawn, “The Memory Librarian”, The Memory Librarian [2022.06.23]
  40. Bachelder, Chris, “The Throwback Special, part 4”, The Paris Review #216 [2022.06.23]
  41. Monáe, Janelle and Lore, Danny, “Nevermind”, The Memory Librarian [2022.06.24]
  42. Cusk, Rachel, “Freedom”, The Paris Review #217 [2022.06.24]
  43. Arthurs, Alexia, “Bad Behavior”, The Paris Review #217 [2022.06.24]
  44. Nugent, Benjamin, “The Treasurer”, The Paris Review #217 [2022.06.25]
  45. Kroll-Zaidi, Rafil, “Lifeguards”, The Paris Review #217 [2022.06.25]
  46. Monáe, Janelle and Ewing, Eve L., “Timebox”, The Memory Librarian [2022.06.26]
  47. Monáe, Janelle and Delgado, Yohanca, “Save Changes”, The Memory Librarian [2022.06.26]
  48. Monáe, Janelle and Thomas, Sheree Renée, “Timebox Altar[ed]”, The Memory Librarian [2022.06.26]
  49. Campbell, Bonnie Jo, “Down”, The Paris Review #217 [2022.06.26]
  50. Gladman, Renee, “Five Things”, The Paris Review #217 [2022.06.26]
  51. Murnane, Gerald, “From Border Districts”, The Paris Review #217 [2022.06.26]
  52. Léger, Nathalie, “Barbara, Wanda”, The Paris Review #218 [2022.06.27]
  53. Martin, Andrew, “No Cops”, The Paris Review #218 [2022.06.29]
  54. Barrodale, Amie, “Protectors”, The Paris Review #218 [2022.06.29]
  55. Beattie, Ann, “Panthers”, The Paris Review #218 [2022.06.29]
  56. Sharma, Akhil, “The Well”, The Paris Review #218 [2022.06.29]

June, All At Once

John Winkelman

Voices 2022

I almost made it through the week without adding anything to the library, but at the last moment I attended the reading for the 2022 Dyer-Ives Poetry Contest. The winners and runners-up are collected in Voices, the annual magazine of the Dyer-Ives competition.

The event was wonderful! Over a dozen of the contestants read their pieces. They ranged in age from 7 or so to probably the late fifties, though the readers definitely skewed young, with all except maybe two being under thirty. The high school students had some of the most powerful poems, and the adult winner wrote a very pointedly anti-capitalist poem, which warmed the cockles of my aging heart.

I didn’t recognize anyone at the event, other than the coordinator Kelsey May, who I met in my capacity as editor at The 3288 Review, when we published a couple of her poems back in 2019. The readers made me feel, well, old. Then again, I consider this a good thing, because if after three years away I only saw the same people as in the Before Times, and they were all Millennials or Gen-X-ers, then something would be very wrong with the poetry community in Grand Rapids.

Yesterday evening Zyra and I wandered downtown to the Festival of the Arts and attended the Love and Peace Jam at the Calder stage. It was fantastic! Several local and regional poets, including Dyer-Ives Finalist Naiara Tamminga and Lansing poet Laureate Masaki Takahashi read and performed, and for the first time I had the privilege of hearing our own poet laureate Kyd Kane read her work at a live event. The event was coordinated by The Diatribe, with Foster (a.k.a. Autopilot) and Kyd Kane hosting.

In reading news, I am caught up to 2022 in my backlog of issues of Poetry Magazine. It still feels good to read such a variety of poetry in such a volume.

I am almost finished with Kameron Hurley‘s excellent collection Future Artifacts, which arrived recently from Apex Book Company. I really like Hurley’s work. Her writing is lush and gritty and I sometimes detect echoes of writers like Jack Vance and Robert Howard.

So now that I am reading poetry and short fiction, my next reading project is to work through all of my back issues of The Paris Review, which is a quarterly instead of a monthly, so I should be able to put a sizable dent in the backlog by the end of the year. The Paris Review publishes short fiction and nonfiction, poetry and interviews, so this should be an interesting, varied,  and enjoyable project.

In writing news, I am still typing up my poems from April. I would make much faster progress if my handwriting was not so terrible. One more thing to work on, I guess.

A Long-ish Weekend

John Winkelman

New books for the week of May 22, 2022

Oh, what a month it has been. The days are longer, the weather is warmer, and we are not far from the halfway point of 2022. Suddenly this long year has become surprisingly short.

Three new books arrived in the past week.

First up is Kameron Hurley‘s new collection of short stories Future Artifacts, recently published by Apex Book Company. I met Kameron at the ConFusion science fiction convention some years ago, and she has graciously signed several of her books. I haven’t read any of her work in a couple of years, so I started reading it on Saturday.

Next on the stack is Issue 22 of the Boston Review Forum, titled Rethinking Law. I had let my membership to the Boston Review lapse, but they had a re-up offer which was too good to pass up. And since it’s only three issues a year, the additional weight in my house should be manageable.

And on the right is Bad Eminence by James Greer, delivered Saturday afternoon from And Other Stories.

In reading news, I am caught up to autumn of 2021 in my read-through of the pile of unread back issues of Poetry. Time and energy permitting, I may catch up to present sometime in June.

I finished Stephen Duncombe‘s Dream or Nightmare. Though unintended, it was the perfect follow-up to Benedict Anderson‘s Imagined Communities, as though the Anderson is about nationalism and the Duncombe about progressive political strategies, they both make the point that, when it comes to politics (which is to say, practically everything about society), people qua people don’t really notice or care about the minutiae of daily life outside of their immediate reach. What they notice are the stories, the narratives in which connect the individual to the people, places, ideas, and events outside of their immediate purview. This is how conservatives are able to convince their followers that fascism and freedom are synonymous, as long as the Right People are in the in-group. This is also why progressives and lefties are so much less successful at spinning inclusive narratives, as (a) progressives are much more grounded in facts and the real world than are conservatives, and (b) the 15% or so of the USA who are actually left-of-center tend to fail each others’ purity tests when it comes to the work of gathering a community.

To clear my head of modern stresses, I picked up Between Clay and Dust, a novel by Pakistani author Musharraf Ali Farooqi, which arrived at the house back in February of 2016 as part of my (now lapsed) subscription to Restless Books. I finished the book in three days, and it was beautiful. I rated it five stars, and recommend it unreservedly.

As stated above, I am now reading Kameron Hurley’s Future Artifacts.

In writing news, I haven’t done much lately. Too many other things taking up space in my head. I do plan to finish transcribing my National Poetry Month poems over the next couple of weeks.