Tag: lists

What I Read in April 2020

John Winkelman

My plan to read a short story a day for the entire year has, thanks to existential uncertainty and the attendant disruption of my life, not happened. Four months in and I am only a fraction of the way to where I should be. But what I lack in quantity this past month I more than made up for in quality. Ted Chiang’s Exhalation is a wonder, and I cannot recommend highly enough the stories therein.

I had some unexpected down time so I read several novels in April. It felt good to let my mind travel to far realms away from and therefore better than the current timeline.

  1. “The Merchant an the Alchemist’s Gate” Chiang, Ted (Exhalation)
  2. “Exhalation” Chiang, Ted (Exhalation)
  3. “What’s Expected of Us” Chiang, Ted (Exhalation)

What I Read in March 2020

John Winkelman

I had such high hopes for March. As it turns out, existential dread and uncertainty are not conducive to good reading habits. Much easier to watch and re-watch and re-binge the myriad television shows on the various streaming services. There was one high point though – I have re-immersed myself in the writing of Roger Zelazny, who was one of the first writers whose work made me also want to be a writer. I think Zelazny and Douglas Adams (of course!) were the biggest influences on lighting in me the creative urge which, though it is not as consistent as I would like, has never gone away.

Hopefully April will provide a little more stability, or at least consistency (predictability?) around which to rebuild my reading schedule. If not, look for more short lists, and perhaps a list of those lists, in order to track them.

  1. “Fair Game” – Dick, Philip K. (The Collected Stories of Philip K. Dick, vol. 3)
  2. “The Hanging Stranger” – Dick, Philip K. (The Collected Stories of Philip K. Dick, vol. 3)
  3. “The Venus Effect” – Hill, Joseph Allen (The Long List Anthology, vol. 3)
  4. “Rain” – Shalamov, Varlam (Kolyma Stories)
  5. “By Design” – Sestanovich, Clare (The Paris Review #232)
  6. “This Mortal Mountain” – Zelazny, Roger (The Collected Stories of Roger Zelazny, vol. 3)
  7. “Auntie Han’s Modern Life” – Tam, Enoch (That We May Live)
  8. “Zombie Capitalism” – Buckell, Tobias (Vice)
  9. “The Man Who Loved Faioli” – Zelazny, Roger (The Collected Stories of Roger Zelazny, vol. 3)
  10. “Angel, Dark Angel” – Zelazny, Roger (The Collected Stories of Roger Zelazny, vol. 3)
  11. “The Hounds of Sorrow” – Zelazny, Roger (The Collected Stories of Roger Zelazny, vol. 3)
  12. “The Window Washer” – Zelazny, Roger (The Collected Stories of Roger Zelazny, vol. 3)
  13. “The Eve of Rumoko” – Zelazny, Roger (The Collected Stories of Roger Zelazny, vol. 4)

What I Read in February 2020

John Winkelman

February was a fairly good reading month though I was sidetracked by a long weekend away, some family stuff, and the act and aftermath of getting the kitten fixed. Turns out that the drugs they use to anesthetize cats for surgery sometimes turns them into psychotic Tasmanian Devil beasts for about a day.

Most of the short fiction for February came from three sources – The Long List Anthology volumes 3 and 4, and Kolyma Stories by Varlam Shalamov. The rest were random picks from journals, both print and online.

I am also pushing through to the end of Sayak Valencia’s Gore Capitalism, which I started reading back in January. I hit a point where I had to put it down, and fully expected that to be the end of it, but there was something about the book that just would not let go of me, so I picked it up again and am going to try to get to the end in the next few days.

Here is the list of short prose I read in the month of February 2020.

  1. “Waiting Out the End of the World at Patty’s Place Cafe” – Kritzer, Naomi (The Long List Anthology, vol. 4)
  2. “Don’t Press Charges and I Won’t Sue” – Anders, Charlie Jane (The Long List Anthology, vol. 4)
  3. “Confessions of a Con Girl” – Wolven, Nick (The Long List Anthology, vol. 4)
  4. “Utopia, LOL?” – Wahls, Jamie (The Long List Anthology, vol. 4 )
  5. “Lullaby for a Lost World” – de Bodard, Aliette (The Long List Anthology, vol. 3)
  6. “Terminal” – Tidhar, Lavie – (The Long List Anthology, vol. 3)
  7. “The Scholast in the Low Water Kingdoms” – Gladstone, Max (The Long List Anthology, vol. 4)
  8. “Ye Highlands and Ye Lowlands” – McGuire, Seanan (The Long List Anthology, vol. 3)
  9. “Things with Beards” – Miller, Sam J. (The Long List Anthology, vol. 3)
  10. “On the Slate” – Shalamov, Varlam (Kolyma Stories)
  11. “At Night” – Shalamov, Varlam (Kolyma Stories)
  12. “Carpenters” – Shalamov, Varlam (Kolyma Stories)
  13. “Paradox” – Kritzer, Naomi (The Long List Anthology, vol. 4)
  14. “A Personal Quota” – Shalamov, Varlam (Kolyma Stories)
  15. “The Parcel” – Shalamov, Varlam (Kolyma Stories)
  16. “Sour Meat” – Tse, Dorothy (That We May Live)
  17. “Gonzales, California” – Berardino, Christopher Seiji (Blind Corner Literary Magazine)
  18. “Aquacultural Appropriation” – Glanzman, Kimberly (Blind Corner Literary Magazine)
  19. “Angel of the Blockade” – Acks, Alex (The Long List Anthology, vol. 4)
  20. “The Fisher of Bones” – Gailey, Sarah (The Long List Anthology, vol. 4)
  21. “Crispin’s Model” – Gladstone, Max (The Long List Anthology, vol. 4)
  22. “The Atheist and the Angel” – Buckell, Tobias (Patreon)

If you made it this far down the page, you deserve a picture of a kitten.

Poe in the Window

What I Read in January 2020

John Winkelman

As part the process of focusing my 2020 reading on short fiction, I am keeping a list of every short story I read this year. Author names are linked to their primary online presence, as are the venues for those short stories.

January was quite busy, what with work deadlines, ConFusion 2020 and the new kitten, so I only read 20 stories. The majority came from periodicals though the last few came from the superb Long List Anthologies of short fiction nominated for the Hugo Awards.

  1. “Lost Book” – Williams, Ryan M. (Pulphouse Fiction Magazine #7, Summer 2019)
  2. “That Faraway Kingdom” – Buckell, Tobias (Patreon)
  3. “I Sexually Identify as an Attack Helicopter” – Fall, Isabel (Clarkesworld #160, January 2020)
  4. “Acceptable Losses” – Dermatis, Dayle (Pulphouse Fiction Magazine #7, Summer 2019)
  5. “A Choose Your Own Fangle Adventure” – Jeschonek, Robert (Pulphouse Fiction Magazine #7, Summer 2019)
  6. “Say Hello to my Little Friend” – Rusch, Kristine Kathryn (Pulphouse Fiction Magazine #7, Summer 2019)
  7. “The Ghost of a Smile” – Miller, John Jos (Dreamforge #4, December 2019)
  8. “Cessation of Civilization” – Croke, Marie (Dreamforge #4, December 2019)
  9. “Autoimmune” – Pankau, Kurt (Dreamforge #4, December 2019)
  10. “Hot Times in Shady Pines” – Kloster, Gary (Dreamforge #4, December 2019)
  11. “The Last Petal” – Madden, Anna (Dreamforge #4, December 2019)
  12. “Extremophile” – Harpold, Robert E. (Dreamforge #4, December 2019)
  13. “Dreamforger” – Crankshaw, Donald S. (Dreamforge #4, December 2019)
  14. “Dirtnap” – Koekkoek, Taylor (Paris Review #231, Winter 2019)
  15. “Zen and the Art of Starship Maintenance” – Buckell, Tobias (The Long List Anthology, vol. 4)
  16. “Red in Tooth and Cog” – Rambo, Cat (The Long List Anthology, vol. 3)
  17. “A Salvaging of Ghosts” – de Bodard, Aliette (The Long List Anthology, vol. 3)
  18. “Welcome to the Medical Clinic at the International Relay Station | Hours Since the Last Patient Death: 0” – Yaochim, Caroline M. (The Long List Anthology, vol. 3)
  19. “Razorback” – Vernon, Ursula (The Long List Anthology, vol. 3)
  20. “We Have a Cultural Difference, Can I Taste You?” – Jordan, Rebecca Ann (The Long List Anthology, vol. 3)

2020 Books and Reading Material Acquisitions List

John Winkelman

Welcome to the Big List of Books for 2020. This is the sixth iteration of the list of books and reading materials acquired by the Library at Winkelman Abbey. The previous five are here:

This list will continue the process started last year – book titles will link to the book publisher or distributor or other place (like Indiebound) where books can be purchased. Only as a last resort (or in the event the book was created using CreateSpace) will the link go to Amazon. Bolded titles are those I have read to completion.

And as always, you can find the complete list of book I own over at LibraryThing, and the terribly incomplete list of books I have read over at GoodReads.

January (27)

  1. Gibson, Andrea – Lord of the Butterflies (Button Poetry)
  2. McGuire, Seanan – Every Heart a Doorway
  3. Hurley, Kameron – The Light Brigade
  4. Berardi, Franco “Bifo” – Breathing: Chaos and Poetry (Semiotext(e))
  5. El-Mohtar, Amal and Gladstone, Max – This Is How You Lose the Time War
  6. Landsman, Keren – The Heart of the Circle (Angry Robot)
  7. Eichenlaub, Anthony – Honor in an Age of Metal and Men
  8. Bell, E.D.E. – Diamondsong (Atthis Arts)
  9. Bell, E.D.E. (ed.) – Five Minutes at Hotel Stormcove (Atthis Arts)
  10. Bell, E.D.E. (ed.) – As Told By Things (Atthis Arts)
  11. Marsalis – Apeman Rex
  12. Steinmetz, Ferrett – The Sol Majestic
  13. Pike, J. Zachary – A Song of Three Spirits (Gnomish Press)
  14. Sanford, Jason – Heaven’s Touch and Other Science Fiction Dreams
  15. Sanford, Jason – Never Never Stories
  16. Cipri, Nino – Homesick (Dzanc Books)
  17. Eichorn, Shannon – Rights of Use (Astra Invicta Publishing)
  18. Stewart, Glynn – Starship’s Mage (Faolan’s Pen Publishing)
  19. Hurley, Kameron – Empire Ascendant (Angry Robot)
  20. Hurley, Kameron – The Broken Heavens (Angry Robot)
  21. Gibbs, Mary Lynne – The Dragon’s Curse (Dragon’s Roost Press)
  22. Cieslak, Michael – Urbane Decay (Source Point Press)
  23. Principia Discordia (Steve Jackson Games)
  24. Howey, Hugh – Half Way Home
  25. Thomas, Lynne M. and Thomas, Michael Damian (eds.) – The Best of Uncanny (Subterranean Press)
  26. Poetry #215.5 (February 2020)
  27. Kim, Sagwa – b, Book, and Me (Two Lines Press)

February (10)

  1. Murnane, Gerald – Invisible Yet Enduring Lilacs (And Other Stories)
  2. VanderMeer, Jeff – Dead Astronauts
  3. Berardi, Franco “Bifo” – The Uprising: On Poetry and Finance (Semiotext(e))
  4. Jacobin #26 (Winter 2020)
  5. The Invisible Committee– The Coming Insurrection (Semiotext(e))
  6. Tikkanen, Märta – The Love Story of the Century (Deep Vellum)
  7. That We May Live (Two Lines Press)
  8. Poetry #215.6 (March 2020)
  9. Sriduangkaew, Benjanun – Winterglass (Apex Book Company)
  10. Sriduangkaew, Benjanun – Mirrorstrike (Apex Book Company)

March (9)

  1. The Paris Review #232 (Spring 2020)
  2. Schiefauer, Jessica – Girls Lost (Deep Vellum)
  3. Rain Taxi #25.1 (Spring 2020)
  4. Ho Sok Fong – Lake Like a Mirror (Two Lines Press)
  5. Callard, Agnes (ed.) – Boston Review #45.1, On Anger (Boston Review)
  6. Kovacs, Christopher S. – The Ides of Octember: A Pictoral Bibliography of Roger Zelazny (NESFA Press)
  7. Ashton, Dyrk – Paternus: Rise of Gods (Kickstarter exclusive hardcover, signed and numbered)
  8. Ashton, Dyrk – Paternus: Rise of Gods (paperback, signed)
  9. Dreamforge #5, March 2020

April (12)

  1. Ortiz, Monica Teresa – Autobiography of a Semiromantic Anarchist (Host Publications)
  2. Chang, Kristin – Past Lives, Future Bodies (Black Lawrence Press)
  3. Ghalayini, Basma (ed.) – Palestine +100: Stories from a Century After the Nakba (Comma Press)
  4. Tichý, Andrzej – Wretchedness (And Other Stories)
  5. Unferth, Deb Olin – Barn 8 (And Other Stories)
  6. Pulphouse Fiction Magazine #8 (Fall 2019)
  7. Karimi, Fowzia – Above Us the Milky Way (Deep Vellum)
  8. Piketty, Thomas – Capital and Ideology (Harvard University Press)
  9. Robinson, Kim Stanley – Stan’s Kitchen (NESFA Press)
  10. Jemisin, N.K. – The City We Became
  11. Bell, E.D.E. (ed.) – Community of Magic Pens (Atthis Arts)
  12. Buckell, Tobias S. – The Executioness (Subterranean Press)

May (17)

  1. Smith, Patrick (ed.) – Conversations with William Gibson (University Press of Mississippi)
  2. McDermott, J.M. – Last Dragon (Apex Book Company)
  3. Poetry #216.2 (May 2020)
  4. Freedman, Carl (ed.) – Conversations with Samuel R. Delaney (University Press of Mississippi)
  5. Calonne, David Stephen (ed.) – Conversations with Gary Snyder (University Press of Mississippi)
  6. Ahmad, Ehsan and Ahmad, Shakil – Wild Sun (Uproar Books)
  7. Rowland, Diana – My Life as a White Trash Zombie
  8. Chabitnoy, Abigail – How to Dress a Fish (Wesleyan University Press)
  9. Mukomolova, Gala – Without Protection (Coffee House Press)
  10. Matthews, Airea D. – Simulacra (Yale University Press)
  11. Foglio, Kaja and Foglio, Phil – Girl Genius: Queens and Pirates (Studio Foglio)
  12. Ono, Masatsugo (Turvill, Angus, trans.) – Echo on the Bay (Two Lines Press)
  13. Barrera, Jazmina (MacSweeney, Christina, trans.) – On Lighthouses (Two Lines Press)
  14. Jacobin #37 (Spring 2020)
  15. Bass, Ellen – Indigo (Copper Canyon Press)
  16. Poetry #216.3 (June 2020)
  17. Wang, M.L. – The Sword of Kaigen

June (15)

  1. Lotringer, Sylvère and Morris, David (eds.)  – Schizo-Culture: The Book, The Event (Semiotext(e))
  2. Coe, David B. and Palmatier, Joshua (eds.) – Galactic Stew (Zombies Need Brains LLC)
  3. Butler, S.C. and Palmatier, Joshua (eds.) – Apocalyptic (Zombies Need Brains LLC)
  4. Sarakas, Crystal and Palmatier Joshua (eds.) – My Battery is Low and It’s Getting Dark (Zombies Need Brains LLC)
  5. Meadors, Melanie R. (ed.) – Hath No Fury (Outland Entertainment LLC)
  6. Murphy, Cerece Rennie and Abbott, Alana Joli (eds.) – Where the Veil is Thin (Outland Entertainment LLC)
  7. Boston Review: The Right to Be Elected (45.2)
  8. Dreamforge #5 (March 2020)
  9. Chavez, Felicia Rose, Olivarez, José, Perdomo, Willie (eds.) – The BreakBeat Poets, Volume 4: LatiNext (Haymarket Books)
  10. Benjamin, Ruha (ed.) – Captivating Technology (Duke University Press)
  11. Klein, Naomi – The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism
  12. Pike, J. Zachary – Orconomics
  13. Ashton, Dyrk – Paternus: War of Gods
  14. Poetry #216.4 (July/August 2020)
  15. Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet #41

July (13)

  1. Seng Ts’an – Trusting the Mind: Zen Epigrams (Empty Bowl; Red Pine, trans.)
  2. A Day in the Life: The Empty Bowl & Diamond Sutras (Empty Bowl; Red Pine, trans.)
  3. The Missionary Sutras: The Forty-Two Paragraphs & The Eight Realizations of a Mahasattva Sutra (Empty Bowl; Red Pine, trans.)
  4. Soto, Mike – A Grave is Given Supper (Deep Vellum Publishing)
  5. Davis, Jean – Dreams of Stars and Lies
  6. The Paris Review #233 (Summer 2020)
  7. Ashton, Dyrk – Paternus: War of Gods (signed, uncorrected proof)
  8. Salvage #8 (Summer 2020)
  9. Woychik, Chila – Singing the Land: A Rural Chronology (Shanti Arts Publishing)
  10. Jessup, Paul – Close Your Eyes (Apex Book Company)
  11. Ultimate Bestiary: The Dreaded Accursed (Nord Games)

August (13)

  1. Jacobin #38 (Summer 2020)
  2. Pulphouse Fiction Magazine #9
  3. Rothstein, Richard – The Color of Law
  4. Alexander, Michelle – The New Jim Crow (The New Press)
  5. Lazzarato, Maurizio – The Making of the Indebted Man (Semiotext(e))
  6. Lazzarato, Maurizio – Governing by Debt (Semiotext(e))
  7. Reckoning #4
  8. Ndiaye, Marie – That Time of Year (Two Lines Press; Stump, Jordan, trans.)
  9. Home (Two Lines Press)
  10. Muir, Tamsyn – Gideon the Ninth
  11. Desmond, Matthew – Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City
  12. Giorno, John – Great Demon Kings
  13. Dickinson, Seth – The Tyrant Baru Cormorant

September (9)

  1. Boston Review #45.3: The Politics of Care
  2. The Paris Review #234
  3. Wilkerson, Isabel – Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents
  4. Harvey, Sara M. – The Labyrinth of the Dead (Apex Book Company)
  5. Harvey, Sara M. – The Convent of the Pure (Apex Book Company)
  6. Genn, Rachel – What You Could Have Won (And Other Stories)
  7. Hernández, Claudia (Sanches, Julia, trans.) – Slash and Burn (And Other Stories)
  8. Poetry #217.1 (October 2020)
  9. Hines, Jim C. – Tamora Carter: Goblin Queen (self-published/Kickstarter)

October (9)

  1. Kaneko, W. Todd – This is How the Bone Sings (Black Lawrence Press)
  2. Huff, Crystal M. (ed.) Recognize Fascism (World Weaver Press)
  3. Harrison, Jim – Collected Ghazals (Copper Canyon Press)
  4. Harrison, Jim – Letters to Yesenin (Copper Canyon Press)
  5. Stack, Garrett – Yeoman’s Work (Bottom Dog Press)
  6. Porter, Bill – Road to Heaven: Encounters with Chinese Hermits (Counterpoint Press)
  7. Datlow, Ellen (ed.) – Edited By (Subterranean Press)
  8. Verso, Francesco – Nexhuman (Apex Book Company)
  9. Poetry #217.2 (November 2020)

November (11)

  1. de Bodard, Aliette – Seven of Infinities (Subterranean Press)
  2. de Bodard, Aliette – On a Red Station, Drifting (Immersion Press)
  3. Wendig, Chuck – Damn Fine Story
  4. Jacobin # 39
  5. Chakraborty, S.A. – The Empire of Gold
  6. Steffen, David (ed.) – The Long List Anthology, vol. 6 (Diabolical Plots, LLC.)
  7. Amazing Stories #77.2
  8. Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet #42
  9. Jones, Kirk – Aetherchrist (Apex Book Company)
  10. Knight, Zelda and Ekpeki, Oghenechovwe Donald (eds.) – Dominion: An Anthology of Speculative Fiction From Africa and the African Diaspora (Aurelia Leo)
  11. The Paris Review #235 (Winter 2020)

December (8)

  1. Bebergal, Peter (ed.) – Appendix N.: The Eldritch Roots of Dungeons and Dragons (Strange Attractor Press)
  2. VanderMeer, Jeff – Ambergris
  3. Longley, Camille – Firefrost
  4. The Boston Review #45.4: Climate Action (Fall 2020)
  5. Stone, Ruth – The Essential Ruth Stone (Copper Canyon Press)
  6. Rain Taxi Review of Books #25.4
  7. Myler, Mike and Morrissey, Russ (eds.) – Mythological Figures & Maleficent Monsters (EN Publishing)
  8. Waggoner, Tim – Some Kind of Monster (Apex Publications)

Several Weeks of Interesting Links

John Winkelman

November was crazy busy, what with National Novel Writing Month and the AWS:Reinvent conference, so here are all the links from November 4 until now. Regular posting will resume, er, whenever.