Readings 2012

Inspired by Heidi Ruby Miller, I've listed the books I've read this year, all 149 of them (probably 150 after today, adding Ellen Hopkins's IMPULSE to the list).

Many great books, but the best--hands down--was Rio Youers's WESTLAKE SOUL, which is a very special novel and one that if you haven't read, you need to ASAP.

The list:

1.     A Blind Eye to the Rearview Mirror, Eric Jackson

2.     A Little Life, Billie Sue Mosiman

3.     After the Fade, Ronald Malfi

4.     All You Can Eat, Shane McKenzie

5.     Being Mrs. Dracula, Jake Drake

6.     Black Train, Jeff Mariotte

7.     Bleed on Me, Shane McKenzie

8.     Carnage Road, Greg Lamberson

9.     Chorus of Dust, Justin Paul Walters

10.   Circuit Rider, Jay Wilburn

11.   Cracklespace, Margo Lanagan

12.   Critique, Daniel Russell

13.   Dead Sheriff Zombie Damnation, Mark Justics

14.   Delphine Dodd, S.P. MIskowski

15.   Die, You Bastard, Die, Jan Kozlowksi

16.   Dinin’, Ty Shwamberger

17.   Down Here in the Dark, Lee Thompson

18.   Drawn and Quaretred, Shane McKenzie

19.   Dying of the Light, Eric Williams

20.   Four Corners Dark, William McNally

21.   Four in the Morning, edited Lincoln Crisler

22.   He Waits, J.G. Faherty

23.   Heartless, Allan Leverone

24.   I’m Not Sam, Jack Ketchum and Lucky McKee

25.   Infinity House, Shane McKenzie

26.   Julie Rayzor Romance Adventure Zombies, Richard Howes

27.   La Fee Verte, Samuel Clark

28.   Last Summer, J.W. Bouchard

29.   Lords of Twilight, Greg F. Gifune

30.   Lost Girl of the Lake, Joe McKinney and Michael McCarty

31.   Lucretia and the Kroons, Victor LaValle

32.   Mourning Mansion, Billie Sue Mosiman

33.   No Outlet, Matthew Warner

34.   No Turning Back, Andy Deane

35.   Operation Rhioceros Hornbill, Gene O’Neil

36.   Prison Planet, Billie Sue Mosiman

37.   Reign of Blood, Sandy DeLuca

38.   Salvage, Jason Nahrung

39.   Showtime, Narrelle M. Harris

40.   Snowblind, Michael McBride

41.   Sorrow Creek, Christopher Fulbright and Angelina Hawkes

42.   Spinner, Dustin LaValley

43.   Subject 11, Jeffery Thomas

44.   Sunfall Manor, Peter Giglio

45.   Swamp Monster Massacre, Hunter Shea

46.   Swan Song, David Riley

47.   Tell Tim Tildrum, Ed Erelac

48.   The Blue Heron, Gene O’Neil

49.   The Business, Derek Clendening

50.   The Cold Spot, J.G. Faherty

51.   The Dark Side of Heaven, Gord Rollo

52.   The Devil’s Serum, Ashleigh Wolfgang

53.   The Devoted, Eric Shapiro

54.   The Employer, Derek Clendening

55.   The Fleshless Man, Norman Prentiss

56.   The Girl, Bryan Hall

57.   The Hungry Skull, Gene O’Neil

58.   The Lady of Seeking in the City of Waiting, Jennifer Brozek

59.   The Last Trace, Roh Morgon

60.   The Men Upstairs, Tim Waggoner

61.   The Mourning House, Ronald Malfi

62.   The Necromancers or Love zombies of San Diego, James Musgrave

63.   The Puppet Graveyard, Tim Curran

64.   The Rain Dancers, Greg F. Gifune

65.   The Sharp End, Joseph Nassise

66.   The Tribesmen, Adam Cesare

67.   The Underdwelling, Tim Curran

68.   The Vagrant, Bryan Hall

69.   Thirty Miles South of Dry County, Kealan Patrick Burke

70.   Through Splinter Walls, Karron Warren

71.   Torn, Lee Thomas

72.   Twenty Eight Teeth of Rage, Ennis Drake

73.   Unhallowed Ground, Daniel Mills

74.   Werewolf Winter, Walter Lazo

75.   When We Join Jesus in Hell, Lee Thompson

76.   Without Purpose, Without Pity, Brian Hodge

77.   Wood, Robert Dunbar

78.   Fated, Alyson Noel

79.   More than Midnight, Brian James Freeman

80.   When Dark Descends, Charles L Grant and Tom Monteleone

81.   Ready Player One, Ernest Cline

82.   The Killing Joke, Alan Moore

83.   Joyride, Jack Ketchum

84.   Weed Species, Jack Ketchum

85.   The Sculptor, Gregory Funaro

86.   Misery, Stephen King

87.   Red Dragon, Thomas Harris

88.   Tortilla Curtain, T.C. Boyle

89.   Talk Talk, T.C. Boyle

90.   The Church of Dead Girls, Stephen Dobyns

91.   Psycho, Robert Bloch

92.   Feesters in the Lake, Bob Leman

93.   On Becoming a Novelist, John Gardner

94.   Relic, Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child

95.   Snow, Ronald Malfi

96.   The Wolfman, Jonathan Maberry

97.   World War Z, Max Brooks

98.   30 Days of Night, Steve Niles

99.   Breeding Ground, Sarah Pinborough

100. I am Legend, Richard Matheson

101. Voices: Tales of Horror, Lawrence C. Connolly

102. Floating Staircase, Ronald Malfi

103. Westlake Soul, Rio Youers

104. Bottled Abyss, Benjamin Kane Ethridge

105. Back Roads & Frontal Lobes, Brady Allen

106. Cold Hand in Mine, Robert Aickman

107. Haunted Legends, Nick Mamatas & Ellen Datlow

108. Childhood’s End, Arthur C. Clarke

109. The Pet, Charles L. Grant

110. Complete Idiot’s Guide to Writing a Novel, Tom Monteleone

111. Writers Workshop of Horror, Michael Knost

112. Starve Better, Nick Mamatas

113. Howdunit, John Boertlein

114. Ghostwritten, David Mitchell

115. The Hunger, Charles Beaumont

116. The Essential Ellison, Harlan Ellison

117. Dangerous Visions, Harlan Ellison

118. Required Reading Remixed, Jeff Connor

119. Walk on the Wild Side, Karl Edward Wagner

120. Where the Summer Ends, Karl Edward Wagner

121. The Wind through the Keyhole, Stephen King

122. Railsea, China Mieville

123. The Croning, Laird Barron

124. The Edge of Dark Water, Joe R. Lansdale

125. The Harmony Society, Tim Waggoner

126. The Gorelets Omnibus, Mike Arnzen

127. 100 Jolts, Mike Arnzen

128. Rock On, Paula Guran

129. Dueling Minds, Brian James Freeman

130. The Exorcist, William Peter Blatty

131. Homecoming, James A. Moore

132. Tyler’s Third Act, Mick Garris

133. Shocklines, Matt Schwartz & Richard Chizmar

134. Vacation, Matthew Costello

135. The Wailing and Gnashing of Teeth, Ray Garton

136. Waiting, Rick Hautala

137. Dark Dreams, Ray Garton & Douglas Clegg & Brian Keene

138. New Screams, C. W. LaSart & M. Louis Dixon & Nikki McKenzie

139. Dereliction, Ray Garton

140. Turnaround, Craig Spector

141. Dark Advent, Brian Hodge

142. Backshot 1902, Ed Gorman 

143. Backshot 2012, Tom Piccirilli

144. Chills, Rick Hautala

145. Four Legs in the Morning, Norman Prentiss

146. A Cold Season, Alison Littlewood

147. Ghost's Know, Ramsey Campbell

148. Scream Quietly: The Best of Charles L. Grant, Stephen Jones

149. Osama, Lavie Tidhar

Reading 12/23-12/29

A novel I cannot talk about. I'm a tease.

Shadow Show: Stories in Celebration of Ray Bradbury edited by Sam Weller and Mort Castle.

I read the first few stories. Notes here. More to follow.

“The Man Who Forgot Ray Bradbury” by Neil Gaiman. This is a story about a man forgetting what he should remember, as one does when senile or afflicted with Alzheimer’s, but what he remembered, was far more than personal, because words and stories are life. It is genius, which is a word I—unlike most—do not toss around. This is an amazing story.

“Headlife” by Margaret Atwood. Very EC Comics-esque story, consciously playing with the tropes of 1950s sci-fi. Well-written, but because it wasn’t particularly unique or deep, not my favorite.

“Heavy” by Jay Bonansinga. Eh. Certainly shows a disdain for agents, but it didn’t get me.

“The Girl in the Funeral Parlor” by Sam Weller. This didn’t have the prettiest prose, but it was an amazing story. Very touching and very Bradbury-esque, which the previous two were not.

Such Sweet Thunder

When I finally came home again, the lights were out, which I should have expected. It was strange—the same kind of strange as when you stumble across something you loved as a child, a toy, a favorite stuffed animal, a place you used to play, and you see how it’s changed, how small it’s become, how staid of color, how lonely. Cold clung to everything, as did the shadows that waited for me like the family that had once lived here. All was still, and the stale stench of ten years’ dust reminded me of how long it’d been.

I stepped inside and shut the door behind me. The lock caught the way it always had, and I opened the door and then closed it again, harder, to make it latch. There were curtains over the windows, but they were thin, and the lights from the neighbors’ houses came through in moving reds and yellows that hung in the air, never seeming to touch the floor or furniture. When I took a step, the floor groaned, and my heart beat faster. Why was I here? Why was I doing this?

At the foot of the stairs, my mother’s cane hung from the banister. I touched it and set it swinging, just a little, just enough. The movement made the house feel different. Not quite alive, just different. Upstairs were more shadows and bedrooms and memories that I didn’t want to face. Not tonight.

When I moved into the living room, everything was as it had been, and I wondered where the time had gone. It had passed so quickly, but that’s the speed of life I’ve learned, too fast. In here the cold sat, and moving through it was like wading through something solid. My toes and fingers ached with the same cold that numbed my nose and ears. I removed my scarf and set it on the back of the couch. I bent to turn on the light, but it didn’t work. Why did I think it would?

Dust-dimmed tinsel dripped from the dry tree’s gnarled branches like bracelets from elderly hands, ornaments like gaudy jewelry, and I had to turn away. The needles had all aged brown. They carpeted the floor beneath the tree, rising and falling where the gifts had been, the gifts we’d never opened. My mouth was dry, and I took off my gloves and set them on the end table. Then my coat, which I laid across the back of my father’s favorite chair.

The lights from next door moved as though chasing each other, and I watched them hazily through the curtained window. Somewhere outside a bell rang, then again. Mother had always liked bells. I’d taken her favorite. It sat on the mantle in my bedroom. I knelt down, and the cold floor hurt my knees.

I wasn’t as young as I’d once been.

I brushed the needles from the largest gift, still wrapped. Its paper, a solid, metallic green, caught the neighbor’s chasing lights in a way that made me smile, but it was a strange smile, because I wasn’t happy. I was . . . here. I was doing what I needed to do, finally. The present was for my brother, and I pushed it aside. The next one, smaller, and gold, was for me. Touching it, I felt the way I had as a child sitting in this exact same spot on Christmas morning. My heart beating quickly, my hands shaking. Looking back at my parents, both smiling, which is how I imagined them now, smiling at me, waiting for me to open my present. My chest felt tight, and a tear cooled my left cheek. I tore into the wrapping.

Ten years before, I’d been in college, a musician, but that dream, like so many others had come and gone like a good day, fading into a painted sky, and then disappearing beneath a crisp moon. The gift was a tuning fork, a small one. I swiped the tears from my cheeks, afraid they’d freeze there, and then I banged the fork on my knee. It hummed, and I pressed its end to the wood floor, and my childhood home took up the sound. Outside, the bells came again, and together with that one note, they sounded a symphony. I held the fork until the note died. The bells clanged once more, then again, and then they too were silent. In that still moment, when the world and I held our breaths, waiting, the movement of the lights changed.

Reading 12/16-12/22

This is a day early, but I'm going to be working on something I can't discuss this weekend.

Fated by Allyson Noel. I hated this book. I’m not going to get into it because I disliked it that much. If I hadn’t read it for school, I would have put it down after the first paragraph.

More than Midnight by Brian James Freeman.

“What They Left Behind” A cool, creepy story. There was just enough subtly not right about the scenes to give it a pervasively unsettling feeling.

“The Final Lesson” A revenge story, which isn’t usually my thing, but this focused more on the mourning than the quest or act of revenge, which is almost an afterthought, while being the climax, of the story.

“Among Us” A monster story with lawyers. Nice twist. In the end it takes the concept a bit too far, I think, but Brian pulls it off.

“Pulled Into Darkness” Strong suspense. Most of the story is waiting, and that is driven—as it should be—by expectation. A great suspense story.

“Answering the Call” I’ve told many people over the years that this is one of the best short stories I’ve ever read—even had a discussion with Tom Monteleone a few years back about the genius of it. Brian builds it slowly, almost like Charlie Grant would, and it’s unique. He gets everything right in this story. Really great.

Reading 12/9-12-15

When Dark Descends by Charles L. Grant and Thomas F. Monteleone. First, let me say that Charles L. Grant is the writer I most admire. I hold others—many others—in very high regards, but he’s the top, if I’m honest with myself. He writes the stories that really get me and writes in the way that really gets me. This was no exception. The subtly Lovecraftian tale was great, and while the style was somewhere between the two writers (who are near opposites), it still worked. Really enjoyed it.

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. This book is almost a love letter to everything 1980s and video games, but it is also an exceptional thriller—even if it’s marketed as sci-fi. I think the story’s about as sci-fi as Star Trek and Star Wars, which is to say not really at all, but it’s one hell of a ride through a world-encompassing MMO that pits one man and a group of friends against the worst in corporate America with only their lives and the fate of the entire world hanging in the balance. If you’re a gamer or grew up in the 1980s, give it a read. It’s a lot of fun.

Awakenings

My essay, "All the Stories I Remember," is featured this week on Fantasist Enterprises's website as part of their "Awakenings" series, which has hosted many of my favorite authors, not the least of which being Simon Kurt Unsworth, David B. Coe, and Lawrence C. Connolly.

The essay's about memories and fiction and how the two really aren't that different and how one can and does inspire the other. Check it out here:

http://fantasistent.com/blog/

Readings Week of 9/8-9/15

“Dinin’” by Ty Schwamberger: This novella was either a homage to or a pastiche of Richard Laymon, and that’s all I saw in it. It was well-written, as I’d expect, but it had some logic issues and offered little beyond what I’d read Laymon to get.

“A Natural History of Autumn” by Jeffrey Ford: First, I love Jeffrey Ford. His stories are unique and written with a literary sensibility not often seen in genre writing. That said, this story wasn’t his best. It was a good story, but I’m used to reading great stories by him. It did everything well and had a nice twist at the end, but it just wasn’t my favorite.

Tortilla Curtain by T.C. Boyle: In my opinion, T.C. Boyle is hands-down the greatest living writer. Some others come close—Cormac McCarthy, Harlan Ellison, Ramsey Campbell, Michael Chabon, David Mitchell—but he’s it. What separates him from everyone else is his inventiveness. His writing is always like a cocky guitar god’s solo. He, however, isn’t always my favorite writer, because sometimes his stories suffer for their pyrotechnical lyric brilliance. This isn’t one of those stories. The characters are fleshed out, the scenes unpredictable and completely engrossing, the tension throughout is palpable. My only complaint would be that the ending was too quick. The novel lacks a denouement, which I think hurts it. It works without one, but there are many plot lines I would have liked to have seen carried to a conclusion. That said, however, not concluding them is philosophically (because this is a novel that asks and explores many questions) the best ending possible.

“Wizard” by Michaele Jordan: This was good. Some good writing and a new twist on the wizard/apprentice trope.