Tag: reading

August 2021 Reading List

John Winkelman

Books I read in August 2021

I finally dove back into short fiction this month, mostly thanks to three anthologies: Portals, Skull & Pestle, and Worlds of Light and Darkness. All three Are good reads and contain some hits and some misses, but overall the anthologies are well above average, so time spent reading through them was time well spent.

The Berardi was dense and complex, being critical theory, and seemed to lose focus at the end, though overall it had very important things to say and the knowledge contained therein will likely affect my world view in unexpected ways for some time to come.

Michael Sullivan’s Theft of Swords was a rollicking good read, and I look forward to reading more of his work. Fortunately I have at least three other books by him on my TBR shelves.

Two of the short fiction authors in this list – Szmerelda Shanel and Jessamy Corob Cook – have no personal web presence that I could find, so I included links to their entries at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database instead.

Books

  1. Berardi, Franco, The Uprising: On Poetry and Finance (2021.08.08)
  2. Sullivan, Michael J., Theft of Swords (2021.08.12)
  3. Bray, Patricia and Butler, S.C. (editors), Portals (2021.08.26)
  4. Wolford, Kate (editor), Skull & Pestle: New Tales of Baba Yaga (2021.08.29)

Short Prose

  1. Goder, Beth, “Candide; Life-“, Clarkesworld #179 (2021.08.02)
  2. Case, Stephen, “The God Skrae Eats Death“, Beneath Ceaseless Skies #335 (2021.08.11)
  3. Lambert, Brent, “Faithful Delirium“, Beneath Ceaseless Skies #335 (2021.08.11)
  4. Holzner, Nancy, “What Time is It”, Portals (2021.08.14)
  5. Friesner, Esther M., “This Way Out”, Portals (2021.08.14)
  6. Brett, Evey, “What the Wind Saw“, Beneath Ceaseless Skies #336 (2021.08.16)
  7. Tregillis, Ian, “Deus Ex Machina”, Portals (2021.08.18)
  8. Bedford, Jacey, “A Land Fit for Heroes”, Portals (2021.08.19)
  9. Grant, John Linwood, “Iron and Anthracite”, Portals (2021.08.19)
  10. Hall, Kate, “The Namesake”, Portals (2021.08.20)
  11. Koch, Gini (as Ensal, Anita), “Portal Pirates”, Portals (2021.08.21)
  12. Malan, Violette, “Doorways in the Sand”, Portals (2021.08.22)
  13. Kemp, Juliet, “Somewhere Else, Nowhere Else”, Portals (2021.08.22)
  14. Enge, James, “A Stranger Comes to Town”, Portals (2021.08.23)
  15. Harper, Steven, “Brick and Mirror”, Portals (2021.08.24)
  16. Cox, F. Brett, “A Bend in the Air”, Portals (2021.08.24)
  17. Moyer, Jaime Lee, “All the Lost Places”, Portals (2021.08.25)
  18. Palmatier, Joshua, “Onward to Glory!”, Portals (2021.08.26)
  19. Popovic, Andrija, “Hard Times in the Vancouver Continuum”, Portals (2021.08.26)
  20. Hurley, Patrick, “The Cracks in the Road”, Portals (2021.08.26)
  21. Forsyth, Kate, “Vasilisa the Wise”, Skull & Pestle (2021.08.27)
  22. Sloan, Lissa, “A Tale Soon Told”, Skull & Pestle (2021.08.27)
  23. Ross, Jill Marie, “Baba Yaga: Her Story”, Skull & Pestle (2021.08.28)
  24. Honigman, Charlotte, “The Partisan and the Witch”, Skull & Pestle (2021.08.28)
  25. Shanel, Szmerelda, “The Swamp Hag’s Apprentice”, Skull & Pestle (2021.08.28)
  26. Coates, Rebecca A., “Boy Meets Witch”, Skull & Pestle (2021.08.29)
  27. Cook, Jessamy Corob, “Teeth”, Skull & Pestle (2021.08.29)
  28. Edelman, Scott, “Answered Prayers”, Worlds of Light and Darkness (2021.08.29)
  29. Gallacher, Mark, “Pioneer”, Worlds of Light and Darkness (2021.08.29)
  30. Miller, John Jos., “The Ghost of a Smile”, Worlds of Light and Darkness (2021.08.29)
  31. Hurley, Kameron, “Judged”, Patreon (2021.08.31)
  32. Buckell, Tobias S., “Crypto Draconis”, Patreon (2021.08.31)

The Last Full Week of August

John Winkelman

Books arriving in the week of August 22, 2021

The only book to arrive this week is Together We Will Go by J. Michael Straczynski, which I picked up from Books and Mortar, the best bookstore in Grand Rapids. I have been a fan of Straczynski since I watched the first episode of Babylon 5. I have read and enjoyed many of his comics (Rising Stars, Amazing Spider-Man, Thor, et. al.) as well as his recent memoir Becoming Superman, so I have high hopes for this, his first mainstream fiction novel.

In reading news, I finished Portals, and it was pretty good! The stories were wide-ranging in subject and (sub) genre, but they tended to be better than average, with several being very good, and only one or two feeling like clunkers. Once again, the team at Zombies Need Brains has turned out a solid, enjoyable anthology.

I am now working my way through Skull & Pestle: New Tales of Baba Yaga, published by World Weaver Press. Back in early 2018 I wrote most of a story which I intended to submit to this anthology, but as I was in the beginning couple of months of a new relationship at the time, my priorities were elsewhere. So I never completed the story, but on a recent re-read I felt that what I had written still had promise, so I may finish it one day and see if I can find it a home somewhere.

In writing news, I don’t have much new to report. After transcribing my National Poetry Month poems last week, I spent some time this week organizing my poetry folder on Google Drive. This included linking each of the poems to a master list and adding tags for the type and theme of the poem, as well as a few keywords to help me find appropriate poems for themed calls for submissions, in case any of these ever move beyond first-draft status.

With the arrival of September in three days, I plan to start writing a new short story for an anthology which has a submission deadline of December 31. Four months should be enough time, I think.

I Can Feel Autumn Approaching

John Winkelman

Books for the week of August 8, 2021

I think this is the beginning of the long tail of COVID stress in my life. Almost eighteen months in, and the new normal has let to assert itself in any permanent way. Though I have not made any plans for the autumn and winter I have let myself begin the process of becoming emotionally invested in events and plans which will now likely not come to pass. For instance, I expect ConFusion will be postponed again in 2022, which at this point seems wise, considering the spike in new cases thanks to the Delta variant and the ignorant, nihilistic, self-absorbed bumble-fucks who refuse both mask and vaccine.

Chekhov Clifford Odets wrote “Any idiot can face a crisis; it’s this day-to-day living that wears you out,” but what if the crisis is the day-to-day living? And dying, of course, thanks to the previously-mentioned bumble-fucks.

The only new reading material this week is Counterpoints: A San Francisco Bay Area Atlas of Displacement & Resistance, from a Kickstarter campaign run by the always-excellent PM Press. This was a spur-of-the-moment purchase (or pledge, as it stands), inspired by our recent visits to San Francisco, as well as the ongoing news reports about the plight and treatment of the homeless population of San Francisco, and their (let’s just go ahead and call it sadistic) treatment at the hands of the powers that be. Grand Rapids is seeing an increase in the homeless population as rents rise and wages stagnate, and as more capital flows upward toward Those That Have, gentrification increases, which exacerbates the housing problem. Rinse, repeat.

In reading news, I finished both Beradri’s The Uprising and Michael J. Sullivan’s Theft of Swords. The Berardi was informative and enlightening, but seemed to lose focus in the last quarter of the book, an opinion apparently shared by others. Sullivan’s book was loads of fun from beginning to end, and I recommend it highly to anyone who likes sword-and-sorcery adventures and buddy movies, though the sorcery is minimal in this one.

In writing news, I have a small but growing stack of outlines for short stories, though no new prose to speak of. I am feeling more anxious at the though of not writing than at the thought of writing, which I suppose is an improvement. We will see how much of an improvement it is at approximately this time next week.

Doldrums and Butterflies

John Winkelman

Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta)

A couple of weeks ago I walked downtown to the office for the first time since March 15 of 2020. When I carded into the office I found I was the only employee on the premises. I logged in at my workstation and immediately discovered that several of the services I need to use for the project I’m on were unavailable from behind the firewall.

So I packed everything back up and walked back home. On the way home this butterfly – A Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta) was sunning itself on the sidewalk about a block from my house. So the day wasn’t a total loss.

No new reading material arrived this past week, which is an increasingly common state of affairs as I get a handle on the fact that, with another person living in my house, there is only so much room for books, and only so much time available for reading.

In reading news, I am close to the end of Franco Berardi‘s The Uprising, and just past halfway through Michael J. Sullivan‘s Theft of Swords, and enjoying both immensely for completely different reasons.

My writing practice took a hit this week due to some unexpected chores and errands, and also the tail end of a project which sucked the life right out of me. I guess I’ll try again on Monday.

Is the Writing Mojo Returning?

John Winkelman

new books for the week of July 25, 2021

It appears that the writing energy is slowly returning! In the past week I have written outlines for a couple of short stories, and am also developing a plan to completely re-write the novel I wrote for NaNoWriMo 2013 in order to (a) rid it of its many, many problematic elements, and (b) make of it a coherent story. This will in effect be a first draft, as most of what is produced during NaNoWriMo is, well, not quite ready to be called a first draft.

This was another week which was light on new reading material. The only arrival this week was Jacobin, which like the last dozen or so periodicals which have arrived at the house, will end up somewhere on a TBR pile, awaiting my attention.

In reading news, I finished The Road Home and Automating Inequality. I am about halfway through Berardi’s The Uprising, which is bending my brain a little, as all Semiotext(e) texts do. I just started Michael J. Sullivan’s Theft of Swords, and at around a hundred pages in am quite liking it! Sullivan spins a fine yarn.

In writing news: Soon. That is all.

A Month Into Summer

John Winkelman

Books arrived in the week of July 11, 2021

As I write this post I am on the last day of my two-week vacation, and I feel like I have relaxed enough, finally, that I could enjoy a vacation. And I will hold that thought front and center when I log in to my work computer bright and early tomorrow morning. I could make a long post about how a stay-cation in the age of COVID feels, compared to any other vacation in any other year, but I fear such a post would quickly devolve into petulance and whining.

Only one new book arrived this week: Michael J. Sullivan‘s new novel Nolyn, fresh from his (extremely) successful Kickstarter campaign. I had the good fortune of meeting Sullivan at ConFusion 2019 (or maybe 2018), through Dyrk Ashton, who knew Michael from the vibrant self-published fantasy community (to which I might one day belong, if I ever finish writing something).

In reading news, I am still working my way through Automating Inequality, and I still have to stop reading about every ten pages in order to let my blood cool down. I can’t remember the last time a book angered me so much and so frequently. Then again, considering the books I have been reading over the past three years, I feel this way quite a lot.

I am about two thirds of the way through Jim Harrison’s The Road Home, and it stands up to the test of time, though I am not enjoying it as much as I did Dalva. This is not to say I am not enjoying the read; far from it. The Road Home is one of the best books I have read in the last few years. But Dalva is better.

In writing news… tune in next week. Or the week after.

Halfway Through 2021

John Winkelman

Books which arrived in the week of June 27, 2021

For the first Independence Day weekend in the last decade, our block was not blown up by the obnoxious neighbor lighting off a thousand dollars of professional-grade fireworks in the middle of the street. I realize I may be jinxing the neighborhood by writing this in the early afternoon of July 4. After all, the day ain’t over yet.

To make up for the uninterrupted and quiet night, I had a bout of serious insomnia which had me sitting at the dining room table until 04:00, blearily browsing the internet in an attempt to get my head to quiet down. I was tired but not sleepy, which is a miserable state in which to find one’s self when there are no pressing issues the next morning and sleep should be abundantly available.

Two new bundles of words arrived in the past week. On the left is the latest issue of Poetry Magazine. On the right is the new delivery from And Other Stories, Keeping the House by Tice Cin, which according to the back cover blurb offers “…a fresh and funny take on the machinery of the North London Heroin Trade…” which I can only assume will create for me a sense of deja vu which will lead back to Trainspotting.

(Yes, I know, Keeping the House is set in London, England and Trainspotting is set in Edinburgh, Scotland.)

In reading news, I finished Jim Harrison‘s Dalva, and it was every bit as beautiful as the previous half-dozen times I have read it over the past 25 years. Harrison’s follow-up novel The Road Home is now sitting next to my bed, awaiting my attention. I picked up my copy of Dalva back around 1996 and it is falling apart. I think I will need to replace it before I read it again, and I don’t think it will be so easy to find another copy with a Russell Chatham cover which is in any sort of good condition.

I have just started Francesco Verso’s long novella or short novel Nexhuman, and so far it is really good! This was published by Apex Book Company and arrived a few months ago as part of my subscription to Apex’s catalog.

I also just started Automating Inequality: How High-Tech Tools Profile, Police, and Punish the Poor by Virginia Eubanks, and only made it about five pages in before I was overcome with an incandescent rage at the state of the world. I have often said that sadism is the national pastime of the USA, and Eubanks is showing how sadism and racism, manifested as carceral capitalism and managed democracy, are actively embedded into the national psyche at a level not much removed from that of the weather or gravity. Currently I am about fifty pages in, and my mood has not improved.

Argh.

In writing news, now that we are in July, and I have some time off, I plan to get serious about my writing practice. Then again I have planned that every week since the beginning of the year and have only been partially successful.

A few walks in the woods and a few evenings on the Lake Michigan beaches may be what I need to clear space in my head.

June 2021 Reading List

John Winkelman

Book I Read in June 2021

Considering how busy I was in June, this is not a bad reading list. I had a good mix of genres, with fantasy, poetry, critical theory, and literary fiction in the mix. I could have maybe snuck in one more book, but the mix of work scheduler and stress, life stress, family stress, and general burnout kept me from enjoying my free moments as well as I could have.

If you look closely, you will see that my copy of Dalva is quite worn. Both front and back covers are attached by the tiniest remnant of the original adhesive, and the pages within are quite yellowed. I purchased this copy when I worked at Schuler Books and Music, sometime around 1996 or 1997, I think. So it’s at least 20 years old. I have read it at least half a dozen times, and loaned it out twice. All the damage to the book was done by me, hauling the book on vacation and to various cafes and offices over the years. I love this book unreservedly, and will likely pick up a replacement copy sometime this year.

As with last month, I didn’t read any short fiction. This is beginning to bother me, and as I have a two-week vacation coming up, I will do my best to set aside time to correct this omission.

Books

  1. Harrow, Alix – The Ten Thousand Door of January (2021.06.12)
  2. Liem, Tess – Obits. (2021.06.15)
  3. Pike, J. Zachary – Son of a Liche (2021.06.24)
  4. Tiqqun, The Cybernetic Hypothesis (2021.06.24)
  5. Harrison, Jim – Dalva (2021.06.28)

Rainy Days are Good Days for Reading

John Winkelman

Reading material arriving in the week of June 20,2021

We have been dealing with a drought of sorts for the past month, and in the last couple of days the weather patterns have stepped up to correct that imbalance. The cooler air has been nice, though it has brought with it some extremely humid days, which have reminded me of early spring in New Orleans. And that has brought with it a specific melancholy, as I have not been to New Orleans since May of 2009, when my father died. I have promised my girlfriend that we will take trip down south one of these days so she can experience the city before it is permanently underwater.

Humid, stormy days dampen down the motivation to do much of anything, so even simple tasks are difficult, as if undertaken after a strenuous workout. And difficult tasks are, well, more difficult. And make necessary frequent naps.

One magazine and one book arrived here last week.

On the left is the latest issues of Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet, the literary journal published by Small Beer Press, a company which consistently turns out some of the best writing by the best authors in the business.

On the right is Ron Hogan’s new book Our Endless and Proper Work, which I purchased on impulse after seeing it in one of John Scalzi‘s regular round-ups of the books and ARCs which arrive at his house every week. I admit I have not heard of Hogan, and that I purchased the book mostly because it was published by Belt Publishing, a company which also turns out excellent writing, centered around authors and cities in the Rust Belt region of the American Midwest. At a quick glance he appears to be quite a good writer, with good advice for writer.

In reading news, I finished both The Cybernetic Hypothesis and Son of a Liche. To clear my head, I have started re-reading Jim Harrison‘s magnificent Dalva, a book which I return to every few years when I need to reset my mind in a specific way.

Reading Harrison also helps to prime my mind for writing, and right now I need all the boosts I can find in order to get my head back into that space. Already the year is half over and I have not written any prose of substance since the first week of last November. More than six months, and though I have about three dozen new poems, that isn’t much to show for 200 days.

Time to get to work.

The Last of Spring

John Winkelman

Book acquisitions in the week of June 13, 2021

The year is flying away, now that the days are long and the COVID vaccine behind me. I am slowly (sooo slowly) pulling myself out of my no-writing funk. Much to my surprise, increased human contact seems to be helping. I spent much of this past week out in the world, catching up with people I have not seen in a very long time. It was a wonderful experience, and the post-peopling hangover today reminds me why I don’t go out and socialize very often any more.

A small stack of reading material arrived at the Library of Winkelman Abbey over the course of the past week.

First up is the new issue of Granta, which includes a large collection of writing from young Spanish novelists. I have got into the habit of tossing new lit journals on the shelf as soon as they arrive at my house, but this one, I think, bears immediate reading.

Next up is a beautiful new novella from Silvia Moreno-Garcia, The Return of the Sorceress, published by Subterranean Press.

On the right is the latest arrival from my subscription to Apex Book Company, Desper Hollow by Elizabeth Massie.

I’m about 100 pages into The Cybernetic Hypothesis, and it seems to be losing its focus somewhat. Still quite informative and disturbing, but the ideas don’t seem to be as clearly defined as they were earlier in the text. I will still read to the end. Perhaps this is merely groundwork for the final parts of the books.

I am closing in on halfway through Son of a Liche by J. Zachary Pike. I really like this books! The writing isn’t quite as tight as the previous volume in the Dark Profit series, Orconomics, but as this book is twice as long as its predecessor, I can overlook the slower pace. It’s loads of fun!

In writing news, still nothing to report. I have a list of anthologies seeking themed submissions, and review it daily hoping for inspiration to strike, but when I have time free, instead of writing, I tend to take naps. I think my body is trying to tell me something.