Tag Archives: Horror

The 2021 Reading List October

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Since one of my writing goals was to read more, I thought it would help to keep track of what I knocked off Mount Tsundoku. Here’s as good a place as any to post what I’ve read to keep me honest, and what I thought of each book immediately after finishing.

Back in 2020 I decided to be a little more systematic about my reading plans. I started putting an actual to-read pile to stack on the nightstand and limited the stack to five books, which seemed doable for the month. Occasionally comics and graphic novels or roleplaying games jump the queue, but I typically tried to get through the pile in the order I stacked them. I also used this strategy to try and diversify my reading. The goal was for each to-read pile to contain at least one book by a BIPOC or LGBTQ2S+ author, one book by a woman, one non-fiction book, and one book by an author I know personally.

Creating the piles is getting a little trickier, as I’m having a bit of trouble filling all of my criteria from stack to stack from my own shelves, and I’m never sure when a library book will arrive. Despite all of the library reading I’ve been doing I still plan on trying to read through the books on my own shelves as much as possible.

Tiny Cthulhu by Alan Bahr: I love the Tiny D6 rules set. I backed this on Kickstarter and I think it’ll be a fun way to run a cosmic horror game. Lots of fun microsettings to choose from too, if you need some ideas of how to get a game started.

Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton: A reread because I watched Jurassic World again recently and then found this in a local little free library. It held up pretty well. I’m surprised how different and yet the same Book Malcolm is from Movie Malcolm. Crichton is not great at evoking character in other instances, but this still remains a pretty good thriller.

Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots: Great voice on this one, absolutely adored the story and the narrator. Hench deconstructs a lot of superhero tropes without ever seem to wink at the reader saying “I’m writing a serious book about superheroes” (which I hate). Lots to think about in what the aftermath of a superhero “victory” would look like. Highly recommended!

Death Bee Comes Her by Nancy Coco: A cozy mystery with a bee and honey theme. It was fun, but I didn’t really connect with any of the characters so I probably won’t continue with the series.

Once & Future Volume 2: Old English by Keiron Gillen, Dan Mora, and Tamra Bonvillain: An excellent follow up to the first volume, with Beowulf and Grendel infiltrating the modern take on Arthurian legend. Fun story with beautiful art and brilliant colours. Looking forward to reading volume 3!

Witch Please by Ann Aguirre: So much fun! I’m really looking forward to reading the next installment of the series. Interesting worldbuilding, great characters, and a super steamy romance.

The Virago Book of Erotic Myths and Legends by Shahrukh Husain: I’ve had this on my mythology reference shelves for years but never actually cracked it until now. Unfortunately it read more like a text book to me. I enjoyed a few pieces I read, but not enough to finish the book.

Dungeons & Dragons The Wild Beyond the Witchlight: Picked up on a whim. Probably not my style as a DM, but it’s full of gorgeous whimsical art, and it was cool to see some characters from the D&D cartoon and toy line turn up.

Arsenic and Adobo by Mia P. Manansala: A fun cozy mystery with a restaurant theme. Fast paced and lots of great family moments. Looking forward to reading the next one.

The Outsider by Stephen King: I haven’t read a “new” Stephen King in years. This one was a little slow out of the gate, and took a while to get to the supernatural in a direct way, but that is typical of what I remember from King. I’m glad I stuck with it, a good story with memorable characters. Might try some more of King’s newer work again down the road because of enjoying this read.

I got through my September stack late in the month, but still early enough that I wanted to build a bit of a spooky themed pile for my next to-read selections. I also had a bunch of graphic novels arrive from the library, enough to make a stack of their own.

A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny, Gear and Sea by Clare C. Marshall, Black God’s Kiss by C.L. Moore, A Banquet for Hungry Ghosts by Ying Chang Compestine, Trick or Treat by Lisa Morton, The Mammoth Book of Folk Horror edited by Stephen Jones.
Swords of Sorrow by Gail Simone, Star Wars The Destiny Path by Charles Soule, Star Wars Darth Vader Dark Heart of the Sith by Greg Pak, The Black Ghost by Monica Gallagher and Alex Segura, Age of Ultron by Brian Michael Bendis.

Swords of Sorrow by Gail Simone, Emma Bebby, Marguerite Bennet, Nancy A. Collins, Mikki Kendall, Leah Moore, Mairghread Scott, Erica Schultz, G. Willow Wilson, Sergio Davila, Dave Acosta, Mirka Andolfo, Ronilson Freire, Francesco Manna, Rod Rodolfo, Noah Salonga, Crizam Zamora: This collection includes the Swords of Sorrow, Vampirella & Jennifer Blood, Dejah Thoris & Irene Adler, Red Sonja & Jungle Girl limited series and the Masquerade & Kato, Black Sparrow & Lady Zorro, Pantha & Jane Porter, Miss Fury & Lady Rawhide one shots. The entire crossover was spearheaded by Gail Simone, whose work I quite enjoy. Because there was so many different artists and writers working on the project it was a little uneven to me at times, but by and large was pretty fun. Outside of the main Swords of Sorrow mini series, I enjoyed Marguerite Bennet and Mirka Andolfo’s work on Red Sonja & Jungle Girl the most, but I’ve always been a sucker for a good Red Sonja story.

Star Wars Volume 1 The Destiny Path by Charles Soule, Jesus Saiz: Charles Soule’s Star Wars work has always been a lot of fun. I’ve loved Jesus Saiz’s art for a long time too. He does a great job of capturing the main characters’ likenesses without making the art seem too stiff and photo referenced. Takes place in the aftermath of The Empire Strikes Back. Looking forward to reading more.

Star Wars Darth Vader Vol. 1 Dark Heart of the Sith by Greg Pak, Raffaele Ienco: The Vader titles have always been a highlight of Marvel’s Star Wars line, this one is no exception. I liked seeing the callbacks to the prequel trilogy, and a focus on Amidala.

The Black Ghost Season 1 Hard Revolution by Alex Segura, Monica Gallagher, George Kambadais: A really fun pulp hero inspired street-level crimefighter book. Great art, and a complicated heroine. I hope there’s another volume soon.

A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny: Returning for my annual reread. I love this book so much. Every year I find something new when I reread it. Once again I chose the read one chapter a day each day in October tactic rather than reading the entire book in a rush. I’m not sure which way of reading the novel I prefer, maybe next year I’ll try reading the book in as few sittings as possible, rather than stretching it out over the month.

Here’s what I read in January.

Here’s what I read in February

Here’s what I read in March.

Here’s what I read in April.

Here’s what I read in May.

Here’s what I read in June.

Here’s what I read in July.

Here’s what I read in August.

Here’s what I read in September.

Also, check out the roundup of my 2020 reading here.

The 2021 Reading List: August

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Since one of my writing goals was to read more, I thought it would help to keep track of what I knocked off Mount Tsundoku. Here’s as good a place as any to post what I’ve read to keep me honest, and what I thought of each book immediately after finishing.

Back in 2020 I decided to be a little more systematic about my reading plans. I started putting an actual to-read pile to stack on the nightstand and limited the stack to five books, which seemed doable for the month. Occasionally comics and graphic novels or roleplaying games jump the queue, but I typically tried to get through the pile in the order I stacked them. I also used this strategy to try and diversify my reading. The goal was for each to-read pile to contain at least one book by a BIPOC or LGBTQ2S+ author, one book by a woman, one non-fiction book, and one book by an author I know personally.

Creating the piles is getting a little trickier, as I’m having a bit of trouble filling all if my criteria from stack to stack off my own shelves, and I’m never sure when a library book will arrive. Despite all of the library reading I’ve been doing I still plan on trying to read through the books on my own shelves as much as possible.

The Curse of Black Teeth Keetes by Perry Grosshans: A module written for Call of Cthulhu (Pulp Cthulhu in particular). I was offered a free copy in exchange for a blurb. Perry’s a longtime friend and we’ve gamed together for years, so I was thrilled to take a look. It looks like a lot of fun and perfectly captures The Goonies/Indiana Jones pulp spirit Perry was going for.

Fall from Grace by Wayne Arthurson: I’ve read some of Arthurson’s articles but this is my first experience with his fiction. Good for a first novel. I’d be interested in reading some of his more recent work. It took me a long time to warm up to Leo Desroches, but I liked the character by the end.

The Survival of Molly Southbourne by Tade Thompson: First time I’ve read anything by Thompson. This was fantastic.

Plastic Man by Gail Simone and Adriana Melo: Not my favourite character but Simone made it a fun read and Melo’s art really suited the character.

Heroine’s Journey by Sarah Kuhn: Another volume in Kuhn’s superhero flavoured urban fantasy series. We have a new narrator, Evie’s younger sister Bea takes over POV duties. I still thing Evie is my favourite of the series narrators so far, but I’ve enjoyed every book, and will definitely try to keep up with the series.

On Spec #113 vol 30 no 3: Part of my goal to read more short fiction. I’ll always have a soft spot for On Spec, as they published my first short story (and a couple more since). Stand out stories in this volume for me were “The Back-Off” by Aeryn Rudely, “Remember Madame Hercules” by Kate Heartfield, and “The Laughing Folk” by Steve DuBois.

Eternity Girl by Mags Vissaggio, Sonny Liew, and Chris Chuckry: A fun, trippy, and meta miniseries. My first experience with Mags’ writing. I remember Liew’s art from the Doctor Fate book a few years back. Also a shoutout to Winnipeg artist, Chris Chuckry, who did the colours.

Artificial Condition by Martha Wells: A book in the Murderbot Diaries. I really enjoyed the first book and the series continues to be great.

witchbody by Sabrina Scott: Did not finish. I liked the art but the book itself just didn’t hold me. It had an interesting aesthetic, just not my cup of tea.

On the Ice by Gretchen Legler: An interesting memoir of an author in Antarctica. I’d like to read some more recent books on living/working at the South Pole.

Deep Dark Secret by Sierra Dean: Book 3 of the Secret McQueen series. A fun urban fantasy/paranormal romance series. It’s been a while since I read books 1 and 2, so some of the backstory details were a little soft in my brain, but there was enough context for it to all make sense.

Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant: I’ve read tons of Seanan McGuire books, but until this one I’d never read anything under her Mira Grant pen name. An absolutely pitch perfect thriller, and a surprisingly different voice than any of her other work I’ve read. That said, I think I prefer her October Daye and InCryptid series style, but I might read another Mira Grant if the right story comes around.

The Well by Shoeless Pete Games: A recent Kickstarter reward. I really enjoyed reading the game and it has some cool rules I’d like to test out at the table. I especially enjoyed how it built its world around the concept of the dungeoncrawl and gave just enough worldbuilding details to feel like you have a handle on the setting without it being a burden of lore. A couple short stories by Cat Rambo and Bruce R. Cordell give a bit of the flavour of the world.

Late Eclipses by Seanan McGuire: Continuing my October Daye series reread. I’m digging all the foreshadowing that now makes sense in the context of the entire series.

The Murders of Molly Southbourne by Tade Thompson: I accidentally read this novella series out of order, but reading book 2 first didn’t seem to spoil much for me. I quite enjoyed it, and will probably seek out more of Thompson’s writing.

Witchmark by C.L. Polk: Book one in Polk’s Kingston Cycle series. It took me a while to get into this one, but after I did, I really enjoyed it, and want to read the rest of the series.

Hard Reboot by Django Wexler: I loved this giant robot smash ’em up novella. It’s much more than giant robots fighting, and Wexler nails every part of the story, but giant robot fights was what drew me to it.

Sundowner Ubuntu by Anthony Bidulka: Another book in the Russell Quant detective series. This one has Quant pursuing a missing person from Saskatoon to South Africa.

Here’s what I read in January.

Here’s what I read in February

Here’s what I read in March.

Here’s what I read in April.

Here’s what I read in May.

Here’s what I read in June.

Here’s what I read in July.

Also, check out the roundup of my 2020 reading here.

The 2020 Reading List: December

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Since one of my writing goals for 2020 was also to read more, I thought it would help to keep track of what I knocked off Mount Tsundoku. Here’s as good a place as any to post what I’ve read in 2020 to keep me honest, and what I thought of each book immediately after finishing.

In 2020 I decided to be a little more systematic about my reading plans. I started putting an actual to-read pile to stack on the nightstand and limited the stack to five books, which seemed doable for the month. Occasionally comics and graphic novels or roleplaying games jump the queue, but I typically tried to get through the pile in the order I stacked them. I also used this strategy to try and diversify my reading. The goal was for each to-read pile to contain at least one book by a BIPOC or LGBTQ2S+ author, one book by a woman, one non-fiction book, and one book by an author I know personally.

Here’s what was on the to-read stack in December!

December’s to-read pile: The Green Room by De La Mare, The Signalman by Dickens, Christmas Eve on a Haunted Hulk by Cowper, Silence of the Grave by Indriðason, Revenge by Ogawa, Armed in Her Fashion by Heartfield, The Skeleton Crew by Halper, Krampus by Brom.

Revenge by Yoko Ogawa: A short story collection in translation. The characters seem connected by threads, which made me change my reading strategy from jumping around between reading a story or two here and there and reading the book as a whole item, even though that’s not my preferred method of consuming short stories. This was a fantastic read; one of my favourites of the year! Not gory, not scary, but definitely unsettling; full of small horrors. Would absolutely read more by this author.

Krampus the Yule Lord by Brom: A fun little holiday tale. Not so little, really. The hardcover edition feels weighty, even if it’s not overly long. I’m always down for Krampus content. I also appreciated all the ties to Norse mythology. I primarily know Brom from his Dungeons & Dragons inspired art, but I’ve enjoyed his illustrated novels too, especially The Plucker and The Devil’s Rose. Brom did some gorgeous colour plates of a lot of the characters in Krampus the Yule Lord as well, which are included in the book, and black and white illustrations to kick off each chapter. Story-wise it reminded me of something I might read by Joe R. Lansdale, but Brom’s prose isn’t quite on Lansdale’s level (but then, for me, few people’s prose is).

The Signalman by Charles Dickens: Another in the Haunted Bookshelf series of novellas featuring classic ghost stories for Christmas. Like The Green Room, The Signalman had nothing to do with the holidays, although this one worked a bit better for me. It was a little shorter, and I was able to consume it in a sitting, which helped with the growing suspense. Honestly not sure I’ve ever actually read any Dickens before this, and while The Signalman hardly seems to be a representative work, I did enjoy it. Despite, that, I’m not likely to rush out to read more Dickens, contemporary fiction just speaks to me more.

Armed in Her Fashion by Kate Heartfield: Super embarrassed not to have gotten to this by now as Kate is a phenomenal writer and great person. I loved this book so much! The characters of Margriet and Claude especially spoke to me, but it was wonderful the entire way through. Kate was caught up in the CZP fiasco as was I, and sadly Armed in Her Fashion is now out of print, but I’m sure it’ll find a new home eventually. It’s too good not to.

The Skeleton Crew by Deborah Halber: My non-fiction read of this stack. Halber covers how the internet has led to a rise in amateur sleuths attempting to solve cold cases. A pretty interesting read. I liked how she used a couple cases as through lines running across the entire book.

Christmas Eve on a Haunted Hulk by Frank Cowper: The last of my Haunted Bookshelf ghost stories for Christmas, and the last book left on my to-read stack. I think I enjoyed this one the most of the three, possibly because it’s actually set during Christmas, which was something I’d hoped for from the others, and because the setting evokes something from a recent short story I sold: a spooky abandoned boat. I’ll definitely look into picking up more of these novellas for next December.

Since I cleared the to-read stack, I decided to indulge in a couple of comfort nostalgia rereads I picked up from my friends at local bookseller, Whodunnit.

Elfshadow by Elaine Cunningham: The first in Cunningham’s stories of Arilyn Moonblade and Danilo Thann, and Cunningham’s first published novel. I made it through Elfshadow, but didn’t finish Thornhold until after the new year rang in, so you’ll have to wait on that one. I found Elfshadow a little rough in places, but I still enjoyed it. The familiarity was just what I needed after a long year.

Here’s what I read in January.

Here’s what I read in February.

Here’s what I read in March.

Here’s what I read in April.

Here’s what I read in May.

Here’s what I read in June.

Here’s what I read in July.

Here’s what I read in August.

Here’s what I read in September.

Here’s what I read in October.

Here’s what I read in November.

The 2020 Reading List: November

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Since one of my writing goals for 2020 was also to read more, I thought it would help to keep track of what I knocked off Mount Tsundoku. Here’s as good a place as any to post what I’ve read in 2020 to keep me honest, and what I thought of each book immediately after finishing.

I’ve decided to be a little more systematic about my reading plans. Now I’m pulling out an actual to-read pile to stack on the nightstand. I’m limiting the stack to five books, which seems doable for the month, even though odds are I won’t get through them all each month. Occasionally comics and graphic novels or roleplaying games might jump the queue, but I’m trying to get through the pile in order I stack them. The first time I did this, I basically grabbed the first five shinys to catch my eye, but for my next stack, I plan on adding some criteria to diversify my reading a bit. My intention is for each to-read pile to contain at least one book by a BIPOC or LGBTQ2S+ author, one book by a woman, one non-fiction book, and one book by an author I know personally (I’ve accumulated a lot of these over the years, and I’ve been a bit slower to get to many of them than I’d like. Sorry, friends!).

Last month was the first time I failed to clear the reading stack in a couple months, so I still had The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones and Scream by Margee Kerr to read at the top of the month.

Here’s the next to-read stack!

December’s to-read pile: The Green Room by De La Mare, The Signalman by Dickens, Christmas Eve on a Haunted Hulk by Cowper, Silence of the Grave by Indriðason, Revenge by Ogawa, Armed in Her Fashion by Heartfield, The Skeleton Crew by Halper, Krampus by Brom.

Invincible Ultimate Collection Volume 5 by Robert Kirkman, Ryan Ottley, Bill Crabtree, FCO Plascencia: Decided to finally expand my Invincible collection, so this volume was new to me. Invincible’s younger brother wants to join him in the hero business and his relationship with Atom Eve becomes more serious. I still love the series. This volume even managed to not make the same dialogue issue I had with past volumes, so that made me happy. Getting really excited to see the animated series, and to read Volume 6!

Terra Obscura Volume One by Alan Moore, Peter Hogan, Yanick Paquette, and Karl Story: Another reread. Terra Obscura features reimaginings of old public domain characters mixed in with elements of Moore’s Tom Strong work. I had super fond memories of this one, and it mostly held up, although I feel like Paquette’s work here is a little cheesecake-y for my tastes. I did a flip through volume 2 afterwards, but didn’t reread it, and I think I’m content to let these two books go from the collection.

Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser by Howard Chaykin, Mike Mignola, and Al Williamson: Another reread, a fantastic take on two of my favourite sword and sorcery characters created by Fritz Leiber, and with art by Hellboy creator, Mike Mignola! I love Mignola’s rendering of both the characters and their home of Lankhmar and Chaykin’s take on the characters’ personalities. After rereading so much Hellboy recently, it was interesting to see how Mignoal’s art has evolved, and see his strengths on display even in this earlier work. Definitely makes me want to dive back into my Fritz Leiber collection.

The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones: My first experience with Jones’ writing, although there’s been a few other works that I’ve meant to get around to. This was so good! I need to track down more of Graham’s work. Creepy, unsettling, and filled with so many unique turns of phrase. I also appreciated the thread of basketball throughout the novel, which I hadn’t been expecting, but as someone who used to play a lot basketball, it brought back a lot of muscle memory as I read, which only heightened some of the scares.

Arclands: The Spellforger’s Companion by Verse Studios: A Kickstarter prize that uses the Dungeon & Dragons Fifth Edition rules set to build a new world and lots of character options. I backed this campaign because of the book’s spellforge mechanic which presents a custom spell creation system that I thought might be useful for a homebrewed campaign world I wanted to use for a future D&D game. The other new options are less likely to get use at the table, and unfortunately the spellforging is more closely tied to the new Arclands character classes than I’d like, but it still looks like it could be useable with some work.

Wolverine: The Jungle Adventure by Walter Simonson, Mike Mignola, and Bob Wiacek: Another graphic novel reread. Hard to believe I’ve held onto this since 1990 when its $6.25 cover price would’ve seen a lot more dear. Walt Simonson is another one of my favourite comic creators from back in the day. Loved his work on Thor, X-Factor, and more lately, the excellent Ragnarök. This is also another pre-Hellboy Mignola work. There’s a lot to love in this short story set in the Savage Land with dinosaurs, robot dinosaurs, and some hints at Wolverine’s then still mysterious origin that I can’t remember if Marvel ever followed up on.

Scream: Chilling Adventures in the Science of Fear by Margee Kerr: Tonally not what I was looking for, a little dryer than I’d hoped, but some really interesting observations. I got more into the book after the initial chapters. I’m not really interested in thrill rides, but the chapters on haunted houses, Aokigahara, and Bogotá were more to my liking. Also, fucking top kudos to the cover jacket designer for the glow in the dark elements. It was occasionally a little unsettling to wake in the night and see the word “SCREAM” glowing next to my bedside.

Raiders of the Lost Artifacts by Darren Watts, Thomas Denmark, and David Pulver: Never let it be said that Twitter doesn’t sell books, because I saw this recommended by a fellow traveler in the gaming sphere and it looked super fun, so I ordered up a copy. Raiders uses original edition Dungeons & Dragons rules to emulate Indiana Jones-style adventures. Looks like it’ll be a lot of fun if I ever get it to the table.

Silence of the Grave by Arnaldur Indriðason: A Nordic crime novel set in Reykjavik. I read a couple later books in the Erlendur series, and enjoyed them, I even had an opportunity to interview Indriðason years ago. This one was good. Dark, but good. Lots of domestic abuse surrounding the murder, which was tough to read. It was interesting to have a case that wasn’t a ticking clock, the murder they were trying to solve was decades old, which also led to some interesting history of Iceland. I normally read about the viking era, not World War II when I read about Iceland. I liked that element of it. Half remembered plot elements from future books in the series rattled around, but didn’t spoil the read for me. I’ll probably return to the series in the future. I like Indriðason’s writing.

The Green Room by Walter de la Mare: Part of Biblioasis’s Haunted Bookshelf series of classic Christmas ghost stories, “designed and decorated” by cartoonist Seth. A fun little novella involving a mysterious back room in a book store, and a found manuscript. A little too much poetry in it for my tastes, and at times a bit dated, which I expected. I wish it had a bit more Christmas connection, to be honest (and I never thought I’d say that), or at least more strongly set in winter, as that’s why I decided to add the Haunted Bookshelf novellas to this stack in the first place.

Here’s what I read in January.

Here’s what I read in February.

Here’s what I read in March.

Here’s what I read in April.

Here’s what I read in May.

Here’s what I read in June.

Here’s what I read in July.

Here’s what I read in August.

Here’s what I read in September.

Here’s what I read in October.

The 2020 Reading List: July

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Since one of my writing goals for 2020 was also to read more, I thought it would help to keep track of what I knocked off Mount Tsundoku. Here’s as good a place as any to post what I’ve read in 2020 to keep me honest, and what I thought of each book immediately after finishing.

July: 

Eberron: Five Nations by Bill Slavicsek, David Noonan, Christopher Perkins: This was a reread. One of my favourite supplements for the 3/3.5 era of D&D, even though I’ve never actually played or ran a game set in Eberron. I’ve been revisiting some of the old Eberron material, as I think the next time I run D&D 5e, I’ll be using this setting instead of my usual go-to of Mystara. I’m still really happy with this book, it has lots of system-agnostic information that can be uses regardless of which version of D&D you prefer.

Vaesen: Nordic Horror Roleplaying by Free League: Another Kickstarter prize! I knew I was going to enjoy this book. Like Forbidden Lands, it uses the Mutant Year Zero rules engine, and I’m quite fond of the system. The art is amazing and evocative, and as the person who will likely need to run the game for my group, I particularly liked how the designers spelled out how to run a mystery adventure in the context of the Mythic North. Really can’t wait to get this  one to the table!

Grim Hollow: The Campaign Guide by Ghostfire Gaming: Another Kickstarter prize! This campaign setting is for Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition, and has some interesting variant rules for a more grim and gritty style of play and mechanics I haven’t seen before. I especially liked the Advanced Background System which could have interesting ramifications for a city based game and Character Transformations which allow players to become a Lich, Fiend, Lycanthrope, or other powerful creatures. I doubt I’ll actually use the world of Etharis, as I usually go with a game world I’m already familiar with, or just homebrew my own, but if I do, my order came with a sweet fabric map that I’ll enjoy laying out on the table.

City of Broken Magic by Mariah Bolender: This was my first Did Not Finish of the year. I really liked a lot of the worldbuilding, the narrator’s voice was interesting, but ultimately, the plot didn’t hold me and I gave up about half way through. I took a bit of a break when two of my Kickstarter games arrived, to jump on those, so maybe that was the cause.

Here’s what I read in January.

Here’s what I read in February.

Here’s what I read in March.

Here’s what I read in April.

Here’s what I read in May.

Here’s what I read in June.

Workshop And Reading In Thompson

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Huge thanks to the City of Thompson, The Manitoba Writers’ Guild and Calm Air for inviting me to present a fantasy and horror writing workshop, and for making this trip possible! It’s some auspicious timing also, what with the 22nd being the 20th anniversary of the first Hellboy comic!

I’ll also be doing a reading and Q & A at the City of Thompson Public Library, Friday March 21st at 6pm. Thank you, Thompson Public for the invitation.

writingworkshop_poster_proof2

Northern Manitoba was a huge inspiration in the writing of Thunder Road, and so while I’m heading up north to teach, I’m also hoping to come home with some more stories. I promised one of my Twitter followers that I’d write something set in her home town some day…

Write on!

Weekend Events

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I am very excited to join these fine (and utterly horrific) fellows on Friday in a panel moderated by Maurice Mierau and sponsored by ACI Manitoba and the Manitoba Writers’ Guild!

David Annandale is the author of Gethsemane Hall, The Death of Antagonis, and the Jen Blaylock thrillers (also published by Ravenstone Books).

Michael Rowe is the Aurora and Sunburst Award nominated author of Enter, Night. He is in Winnipeg to launch his latest novel, Wild Fell.

Horror Poster

Then on Saturday I’ll be signing copies of Thunder Road and Tombstone Blues at McNally Robinson Booksellers from 2-4 pm. Hope to see you there!

Write on!

An Interview With Silvia Moreno-Garcia

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Silvia Moreno-Garcia bought one of my short stories for the Fungi anthology she edited with Orrin Grey, and so it was an absolute pleasure to meet her at Keycon 30. I’m very excited about her latest project, Young Blood, a YA vampire novel set in Mexico. She’s currently crowdfunding the book on Indiegogo. I hope you’ll consider donating, there’s still ten days left to make this book happen and I really want to read it.

CG: Young Blood started out as a short story. Why did you decide to expand it into a novel?

SMG: I worked on two previous novels that didn’t pan out and I wanted to try something different, something that was short and had more clear-cut fantastic elements. I decided “A Puddle of Blood” could be extended and work as a YA, and it had been well received, so it seemed like a natural fit and I didn’t think there was anything like it around, so it might have some potential to attract readers.

CG: What appeals to you most about vampires as a monster in general, and your vampires in particular?

SMG: I think vampires are creepy fuckers. Nowadays they are popular romantic heroes, but if you look at legends and folklore, they are scary things. Emblems of the plague. You watch Nosferatu, the black and white version or the colour remake, and even though the vampire seems to desire the leading lady, it is NOT the kind of relationship you’d like to be in. It is deadly. Nosferatu is a horrid-looking thing. Those vampires appeal to me more than the romantic ones.

Even with the romantic ones, there are details that are ignored which I find disturbing. Why would a 100 year-old creature want to spend his life in high school, meeting teenagers? There’s a disturbing thing there. Predator double time.

As for my vampires, Atl is inspired by Caribbean and Latin American folklore. I like having a vampire that is a bit different and isn’t romantic. Some of the other vampires in the book take after European vampires, but they are not romantic, either. It was fun having these creatures going around Mexico City and fighting each other.

CG: Why do you feel it’s important to set fiction outside of the big US cities where we commonly see it?

SMG: I just think it’s odd that everything happens in the US. Every single time an alien ship it lands it’s in New York or Washington. Let’s shuffle it around, no? Also, the reactions of the people in a different cultural setting can be very interesting. If you have aliens walking through the slums of Mexico, I think you’d get a very different reaction. I imagine that if they tried to make it into Tepito, a famous low-class, tough neighborhoud (since the time of the Aztecs), they’d come out dead. There are many untapped possibilities when you go for someone who is not the usual protagonist or you transport the action to a setting you normally don’t see.

That’s why Domingo collects garbage. I wanted to have a protagonist who was not upper class or white or emo. Someone who isn’t heroic in the oh-you-are-the-chosen-one kind of way, but still has street smarts and is brave in his own way. And I wanted to put him against Atl, who is older, more sophisticated, more sure of herself, so that we don’t have the older suave male and the younger naive woman.

CG: I’ve only read the sample chapters so far, but I love your portrayal of Mexico City. How did you capture its flavour?

SMG: Thanks. Mexico City is an awesome city. It’s huge. You can find anything in the world there. It’s also ugly as hell. It’s also beautiful. You can walk into 18th century houses and brand new highrises. It’s a labyrinth. It’s a great monster. I love and hate it. I hope some of those feelings come through in the text: what it’s like taking the subway, walking through some of the streets and the like.

CG: What was the most interesting piece of research you found while working on Young Blood?

SMG: I read a lot about the current crime troubles in Mexico, the narco stuff. It’s quite disturbing. If you think fiction is bad, try browsing through some newspaper articles. In a way, writing about these kind of crimes is a bit cathartic because it’s just so freaking scary knowing what’s going on in the place where I was born. I can process the horrors better this way, if it makes any sense.

Anyway, the most interesting factoid is how the narco system began. It started in the 1940s. Farmers in Sinaloa started growing opium poppies. The government of the United States needed an alternate supply of morphine during World War II. They couldn’t get it from Asia due to the war. So they encouraged farmers to grow it for them. They planted the seeds of the cartels. Though the United States loves to talk about the War on Drugs, they got us started on this path.

CG: Do you have any further plans for Atl, Domingo, and Rodrigo if Young Blood gets funded?

SMG: I don’t like doing multi-series books, so this will be the end of them. Unless someone wants a graphic novel. Then GMB Chomichuk can draw it.

CG: I’d definitely buy that! Thanks, Silvia, and good luck with Young Blood!

You can read Chapter 1, 2, and 3 on Silvia’s website. Here’s the trailer for Young Blood:

Mexican by birth, Canadian by inclination. Silvia lives in beautiful British Columbia with her family and two cats. She writes speculative fiction (from magic realism to horror). Her short stories have appeared in places such as Fantasy Magazine, The Book of Cthulhu, Imaginarium 2012: The Best Canadian Speculative Writing and Shine: An Anthology of Optimistic Science Fiction. Her first collection, This Strange Way of Dying, is out in 2013.

Silvia is the publisher of Innsmouth Free Press, a Canadian micro-publishing venture specializing in horror and dark speculative fiction. The Innsmouth Free Press website features daily non-fiction and tri-annual fiction issues. Innsmouth Free Press publishes several  high-quality anthologies and novels during the year.

She has co-edited the anthologies Historical Lovecraft, Future Lovecraft, Candle in the Attic Windowand Fungi. The upcoming Dead North will be the first anthology she edited solo.

In 2011, Silvia won the Carter V. Cooper Memorial Prize (in the Emerging Writer category), sponsored by Gloria Vanderbilt and Exile Quarterly. She was also a finalist for the Manchester Fiction Prize.

To contact Silvia e-mail her at silvia AT silviamoreno-garcia DOT com. You can also find her on Twitterand Google+.

Ferocious Opening

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I just found out that a friend of a friend has a movie opening in Winnipeg tonight. Pretty cool stuff!

Ferocious is Robert Cuffley’s third feature and was filmed on location in Saskatoon. Go Canadian indie film!

Ferocious is about Leigh Parrish (Amanda Crew), a likeable, small-town girl, now famous actress, who takes increasingly drastic steps to protect her fame. Michael Eklund plays Eric, a bartender and former boyfriend of the long-gone celebrity. Kim Coates plays Maurice, the sleazy nightclub owner that has been extorting cash from the rising celebrity over an unsavoury secret Leigh is determined to bury forever.

Ferocious opens in theatres in Winnipeg Friday March 15th at the Landmark Cinema 8 Theatre (301 Notre Dame Ave).