Michael Patrick Hicks's Blog, page 49
January 16, 2016
Review: Desolation by Kristopher Rufty
Review: 
Dennis Hinshaw has it all – a beautiful wife, a great kid and a second baby on the way, and a solid career as a teacher – until his entire life is taken away by a drunk driver, Grant Marlowe. Two years later, Marlowe is a recovering alcoholic intent on saving what’s left of his own family by gathering them together at their mountain retreat to celebrate Christmas. Hinshaw, however, has other plans, plans he has been constructing for two years, and now is the time for revenge.
Heading into Desolation, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect beyond a home invader horror romp but Kristopher Rufty managed to exceed my expectations. His opening chapter, in which we see the tragic aftermath of an automobile crash from Hinshaw’s point of view, was truly gut-wrenching and unsettling. Enough so that I honestly thought that I would be rooting for Hinshaw as he exacted vengeance.
Right from the get-go, I wanted to hate Grant Marlowe, and for a while there I did. But that’s kind of the neat trick Rufty pulls here in that I wanted, and to a degree expected, things to go one way and the author pulled me off into a different direction, turning the tables on me pretty solidly.
Each of these men are, in their own distinct ways, walking wounded in the aftermath of a single, fatal collision. Their lives have careened off in different directions like pinballs hitting a paddle, but both continue to live in the shadows of that fateful night. Hinshaw is rather clearly the villain, and although his initial motivations may be far too understandable, his actions are supremely abhorrent. Marlowe, meanwhile, turned out to be a far more tragic figure than I had initially suspected. Yeah, he’s a touch too full of himself and at times way more entitled than he deserves to be, but the night Hinshaw has planned for him goes well beyond the pale and into full-on psychopathy.
Ultimately, I wish Rufty would have juggled expectations for these characters a little bit more before settling on a fairly black-and-white depiction of good versus evil, but his characterizations here are admirable. Both men are equally relateable (well, to a certain degree anyway…), with their flaws shining through nicely, even before all the blood starts a-spillin’. In terms of gore, there’s a few wince-inducing sequences and some hair-raising scenarios that get extra-chunky as the story wears on to a supremely bloody finish. I doubt many horror hounds will be disappointed by this one.
Original post:
MichaelPatrickHicks.booklikes.com/post/1325855/review-desolation-by-kristopher-rufty
January 11, 2016
When Cover (re)Design Goes Wrong (and sometimes right!)
I’ve been meaning to check out Marcus Sakey’s Brilliance trilogy for a while now. One of the things that really sucked me in was the terrific cover design for his first book – it was original and intriguing, with a really unusual use of perspective. There’s a sense of mystery to it that made me want to know what the heck was going on in this book’s pages. There’s a great bit of boldness and sense of epicness to it. I loved it, and it caught my eye immediately. This style carried over into the second novel, A Better World, building on the artistic theme of the prior novel.
When book three popped up on NetGalley, I overlooked it entirely. In fact, it wasn’t until I got an e-mail from NetGalley notifying me that it was available to request did I realize why it had slipped my attention.
Written In Fire may be a great book, and I’ll be checking it out as soon as I can, along with the first two novels, but jeez is its cover ever unexceptionally generic and easy to ignore. Gone is all the pizazz and creativity of those two earlier cover designs, which have now been redesigned to fit in with this new and utterly pedestrian design work.
Here’s a look at the three new covers together. I guess one good thing is that they all match a theme… But, seriously, there was already a brilliant (excuse the pun) theme happening. I’m at a complete loss for why this sudden change in design was needed. Maybe their original designer was unavailable? Anyway, here’s what they came up:
I know publishers change their covers all the time, sometimes with ridiculous frequency. Simon & Schuster, for instance, just re-released a ton of Stephen King books with new covers, most of which I enjoy for their minimalism. Here’s a few that caught my eye and that I think work really well. There’s some great art here that really captures the spirit of the books they represent, and I find the cover for IT to be tremendously creepy. That ugly clown grin gives me shivers!
Sometimes an author changes publishers, and their series needs a fresh look, as recently occurred with Chuck Wendig’s Miriam Black series. Those original Joey Hi-Fi covers produced for Angry Robot are freaking stellar works of art that need to be printed in massive wall-sized posters just to soak in all their many splendid details.
But you know what? I also really dig the fresh look Saga Press gave this series. I love the layout and color design, and the bold way the author’s name and book titles are presented against the art work. I love the sleek oily look of the blackbird and the hand-sketched appearance of the mockingbird on these respective titles.
The Miriam Black covers are worlds apart, but both work exceptionally well and have great use of bold colors, while still reflecting the starkness of Wendig’s words and the world his titular character inhabits. These are unique products from two different publishers, and while I adore the original Angry Robot covers, I have a certain affection for the Saga Press releases, too. They’re clearly different visions and versions on a theme, but they work damn well on their own. Either cover draft makes me want to read (or rather reread) these books, so definitely a striking mission accomplished!
And then there’s those cases where successful indie authors get a publishing contract, as Craig Schaefer recently did (Congrats, Craig!). His Faust novels have some seriously wicked cover art that make me want to read the living hell out of his books!
And then Amazon signed him for a new series revolving around the character of Harmony Black. Here’s what their art department decided to saddle him with:
Maybe not too bad, but certainly way more tepid than Schaefer’s indie works. Sakey’s books, too, are published with Amazon, which leads me to suspect that Amazon publishing needs to invest more heavily in creative designers. Or perhaps they’re going for a unified line across all their books that are centered around mysterious ephemeral explosions of some sort? I dunno. My untrained eye just thinks there’s so much more eye-catching potential in the way these stories are represented than what we’re currently getting.
On the other hand, I don’t want to end this on a low note, so here’s a couple Amazon covers that I think work exceptionally well, this time for Chuck Wendig’s Atlanta Burns series, published by Amazon’s Young Adult imprint, Skyscape. I just flat-out love this style and color schemes, so cheers to Skyscape for giving these stories the captivating art they deserve.
What do you think? Do the redesigns work? Any standouts in your mind, good or bad? Feel free to sound off in the comments!
January 10, 2016
Buy This Now: ZERO LIVES REMAINING Hardcover
I finally received my signed, numbered limited edition hardcover of Adam Cesare’s novella, Zero Lives Remaining, from Shock Totem Publications. Let me tell you, this sucker is freaking beautiful!
The book is designed to look like a VHS tape, and comes in its own clamshell case, which is designed to look like a 1980s horror flick. I remember seeing many a tapes like this in my local video store way back when (King Video in Allen Park, MI; now out of business or close to it from what I hear, thanks to a dispute with the building’s owner… It’s a shame, as the store had managed to keep up with the times and was one of the first video stores I can recall not only renting and buying VHS tapes from, but actually being able to find DVDs even when that technology was still in its infancy.), so this is a wonderful dose of nostalgia.
In addition to the wonderful kitsch value, there’s even some trading cards and a fold-out insert interview. Obviously a lot of thought, time, and talent went into producing this title. I’m not by any means a serious collector of signed/limited hardcovers, but stuff like this (and IDW’s upcoming NOS4A2/The Wraith collector’s edition) is really hard to pass up. Particularly when it’s so unique and well-crafted. This thing’s got some serious production value!
I received #17 out of 100 print copies, and from what I hear these books are selling fast. You may want to hurry up get yours now!
http://shocktotem.bigcartel.com/product/zero-lives-remaining-hardcover
And check out the special movie trailer that was created for the book, directed by Mike Lombardo.
January 9, 2016
Reblogged from: Lornographic Material
Don’t ever apol...
Reblogged from: Lornographic Material
Don’t ever apologize to an author for buying something in paperback, or taking it out from a library (that’s what they’re there for. Use your library). Don’t apologize to this author for buying books second hand, or getting them from bookcrossing or borrowing a friend’s copy. What’s important to me is that people read the books and enjoy them, and that, at some point in there, the book was bought by someone. And that people who like things, tell other people. The most important thing is that people read.
~ Neil Gaiman
Suffice it to say, I agree.
Original post:
MichaelPatrickHicks.booklikes.com/post/1320704/post
Review: The Dream Beings by Aaron J. French
About The Dream Beings
FOR FANS OF LOVECRAFTIAN FICTION AND DARK THRILLERS
Born with a mysterious gift he never wanted… a gift that could mean his death.
When Jack Evens’s name appears in blood at the scene of a grotesque ritualistic murder, the private investigator is drawn into a conflict that extends beyond reality, into the realm of dreams…and nightmares.
A serial killer is after him, but this is no ordinary psychopath. This killer is controlled by mysterious creatures from another realm. If he hopes to survive, Jack must finally come to terms with his psychic ability, a gift that has haunted him since he was a child.
At stake are the women the killer has targeted, Jack’s own life, and something much more…something of cosmic proportions.
About the Author
Aaron J. French is a book editor for JournalStone Publishing and the Editor-in-Chief for Dark Discoveries magazine. He has edited several anthologies, including Songs of the Satyrs, Monk Punk & Shadow of the Unknown Omnibus, and The Gods of H.P. Lovecraft (Winter 2015) from JournalStone Publishing, which includes new Mythos work from the biggest names in horror fiction, including Adam Nevill, Laird Barron, Bentley Little, Christopher Golden, Jonathan Maberry, Joe Lansdale, and Seanan McGuire.
2014 saw the publication of The Chapman Books, a supernatural thriller collection from Uncanny Books featuring Aaron’s novella “The Stain.” His single-author collection, Aberrations of Reality, was published by Crowded Quarantine Publications and it is the first book to collect Aaron’s fiction focusing on the occult, metaphysics, and the weird. His zombie collection Up From Soil Fresh was published by Hazardous Press in 2013; also in 2013 “The Order,” an occult thriller novella about a Lovecraftian secret society, was published in the Dreaming in Darkness collection. Look for Aaron’s brand new hard-boiled Lovecraftian novella “The Dream Beings” forthcoming from Samhain Publishing in January of 2016.
My Thoughts
Aaron J. French is a name that crossed my radar thanks to his involvement as editor of the recently released anthology, The Gods of H.P. Lovecraft. When I got word of his solo release through Samhain’s horror division, and gave the synopsis a gander, I knew I had to read it.
The premise of The Dream Beings is simply outstanding – a psychic PI battling demons who are controlling a vicious killer that seems to have a sort of personal vendetta against him. Good stuff and worth a look, as far as I’m concerned.
Unfortunately, French’s novella failed to live up to my expectations. While it started off strong with an appropriately grisly murder and decapitation sequence, I found myself losing interest fairly quickly afterward.
A few issues cropped up that really limited my enjoyment of this story.
First off was the dialogue. French uses dialogue to infodump, and in great quantities, while he’s attempting to get the story into the swing of things. PI Jack Evens and his friend/Homicide detective Oscar engage in long-winded, unnatural, and stilted exchanges that carry on way too long and serve only to give reader’s a sort of long oral history on Evens and his, and his family’s history of, psychic powers.
My second issue had to do with the imbalanced tone that French adopts. Evens is a smartass, but the humor never really worked for me. This is an entirely subjective point, but when he tries to be funny if often derailed the story for me, especially when he drops an famous, much-cited quote from the movie Predator during the story’s climax. There’s also a lot going on here for a fairly short story, which only perpetuates this sense of imbalance. The psychic, horror, demonic, maybe ancient gods, cosmic riffs, and spiritual questioning never seem to gel into a unified narrative, as if French had a lot of ideas to tangentially connect but wasn’t able to give them the proper depth and focus required due to a limited word count.
This may sound overly harsh and critical, but I’m going to issue a reminder here that I’m giving a two-star rating on the Goodreads metric, which is defined as “it was OK.” And that’s a fairly sufficient summation as any that I could give this book. I didn’t hate it; I was able to read it and stuck with it in its entirety, thanks to its brevity. If there were a “Meh” rating, I may with that, but “OK” is about the closest I can get right now. Overall, I had a few too many problems with the execution and delivery, and found it missing more notes than it hit.
[Note: I received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.]
Buy The Dream Beings At Amazon
January 8, 2016
Review: The Survivor (A Mitch Rapp Novel) by Kyle Mills
About The Survivor
A blistering novel that picks up where The Last Man left off, The Survivor is a no-holds-barred race to save America…and Mitch Rapp’s finest battle.
When Joe “Rick” Rickman, a former golden boy of the CIA, steals a massive amount of the Agency’s most classified documents in an elaborately masterminded betrayal of his country, CIA director Irene Kennedy has no choice but to send her most dangerous weapon after him: elite covert operative Mitch Rapp.
Rapp quickly dispatches the traitor, but Rickman proves to be a deadly threat to America even from beyond the grave. Eliminating Rickman didn’t solve all of the CIA’s problems—in fact, mysterious tip-offs are appearing all over the world, linking to the potentially devastating data that Rickman managed to store somewhere only he knew.
It’s a deadly race to the finish as both the Pakistanis and the Americans search desperately for Rickman’s accomplices, and for the confidential documents they are slowly leaking to the world. To save his country from being held hostage to a country set on becoming the world’s newest nuclear superpower, Mitch Rapp must outrun, outthink, and outgun his deadliest enemies yet.
About the Author
Vince Flynn
#1 New York Times bestselling author Vince Flynn (1966–2013) created one of contemporary fiction’s most popular heroes: CIA counterterrorist agent Mitch Rapp, featured in thirteen of Flynn’s acclaimed political thrillers. All of his novels are New York Times bestsellers, including his stand-alone debut novel, Term Limits. The Mitch Rapp story begins with American Assassin, followed by Kill Shot, Transfer of Power, The Third Option, Separation of Power, Executive Power, Memorial Day, Consent to Kill, Act of Treason, Protect and Defend, Extreme Measures, Pursuit of Honor, and The Last Man.
His novels have been published in twenty countries worldwide, and have sold more than one million copies as ebooks. He was a native of Saint Paul, Minnesota, where his family lives. Visit his website at VinceFlynn.com.
Kyle Mills
Kyle Mills is the New York Times bestselling author of twelve books, including the latest in Robert Ludlum’s Covert-One series, The Ares Decision. Growing up in Oregon, Washington, DC, and London as the son of an FBI agent, Kyle absorbed an enormous amount about the Bureau, giving his novels their unique authenticity. He and his wife live in Wyoming where they spend their off hours rock climbing and backcountry skiing.
My Thoughts
After Vince Flynn’s death in 2013, his publishers entrusted thriller author Kyle Mills to carry on with the long-running Mitch Rapp series. The Survivor is the fourteenth entry and, after Flynn’s last two prequel novels, returns readers to the present-day, following up on the enormous amount of fallout from the finale of The Last Man.
A CIA turncoat has, in the wake of his death, begun unleashing data that could cripple America’s intelligence community and end the careers of CIA Director Irene Kennedy and uber-assassin Mitch Rapp. Their enemies are pining for this data, chasing any lead they can, with the hopes of usurping the United States. Naturally, Rapp isn’t going to allow that.
Series creators leave a long shadow in the wake of their passing, and die-hard fans can be hard to please when the torch is passed. For his part, Mills writes a solid continuation and builds a novel that fits well with what came before, sufficiently tapping into the same voice of each character and expected levels of violence and American rah-rah-rah jingoism as previously written by Flynn.
While it’s an entertaining enough read, I can’t help but find Mitch Rapp growing increasingly one-dimensional as the years go on. Fans expect a big, heroic tough-guy, of course, but the level of fervor and almost-fundamentalist mentality that’s been bred into the man over time has reached increasingly pscyhopathic levels in the years following his wife’s murder. Rapp is no longer a man content with eliminating only America’s enemies abroad, but at home as well, to the point that virtually anyone that dares disagree with, or even simply annoys, him is construed as needing a bullet to the back of the head.
The fact that Mills is able to interject some degree of self-reflection in Rapp is a bit of a win. I don’t think we’re in any danger of Rapp suddenly turning into a cuddly comedian, but the man is ripe for some personal growth and much-needed maturity before he descends into pure caricature. While I’ve liked, and at times even loved, this series under Flynn’s guiding hand, I’m hopeful that Mills can put his own stamp on the series and give these character some fresh perspectives and breathe new life into them in subsequent entries.
Nobody will ever mistake Mitch Rapp for the calm, cool, collected CIA pros of Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan series, but if you’re looking for a fun bit of fictional sabre-rattling, these books, and The Survivor in particular, are certainly enjoyable enough reads.
Read An Excerpt of The Survivor
January 7, 2016
Facebook, Updates, and Assorted Housekeeping
Well, it’s official – I am now Facebook free. Or, at the very least, I’ve deactivated my account. I suppose I could log back in and restart things, but for now I’ll be testing the waters of a Facebook-free lifestyle.
Note, though, that my Facebook author page is still up and running. I will be limiting my use of it to auto-updates from synchronized postings on this blog and only occasionally taking the reins to post promotional related stuff on those rare instances that I have things to promote.
So, this is it.
And you know what, it actually feels pretty damn good. Like a weight has been lifted. One less monkey on my back.
One of my resolutions for 2016 was to limit my use of Facebook. I hadn’t then planned on deactivating the account, but the option certainly became more attractive as the days of this New Year wore on.
Let’s face it – Facebook is an enormous time-suck. It’s literally a black hole for productivity, and I had allowed it to suck up more of my life than I reasonably should have. Pure weakness on my part, but there you go.
Time, in particular, is a very rare commodity in my life. I have a full-time job, I’m a part-time writer, I’m married and have a three-month old son, and I also value having time to read and, in the very unlikely event that I somehow find myself with additional free time, I’d like to someday get through some TV series on Netflix and Amazon, or not spend two (or more) days trying to watch a movie. I recently watched Bone Tomahawk, which took me two days to view (thankfully it was well worth it). At some point since it hit iTunes, I’ve been lucky enough to watch a whole 8 minutes of Jurassic World. So I don’t actually think extra free time will be something I’m allowed in the foreseeable future, but whatever I am lucky enough to have afforded me I would much rather not be scrolling through an endless social feed and checking for updates. I have too many other things to do, and, honestly, my wife and son are way more important and a bigger priority than my Facebook feed. Now, I don’t have to worry about missing out on his, and to an extent my own life, on people pixels.
Facebook is gone now; account is deactivated, app is deleted from my phone, and it feels pretty freaking liberating.
I’m in the process of getting an Author page verified on BookLikes. If you blog or review over there, give the page a follow. You can find me right here.
Amazon has recently implemented a new feature called Kindle Instant Book Preview. You can find out more about this at geekwire, but the gist of it is that it allows bloggers to embed book samples on their page the way they would video.
This is an awesome idea and I have to give Amazon a big pat on the back for this! Unfortunately, the embed code is in iframes, and as user of the free WordPress dot-com end of things I can’t use it. But, I’ve added a link to each of my book pages that will at least allow readers to check out the preview. You could, for instance, head on over to the page for my novel Convergence, click the link that says Read A Sample, and off you go.
And should you like the sample well enough, you could always purchase the book for your Kindle for only $3.99. /shamelessplug
January 2, 2016
Watch This Now: Bone Tomahawk
About Bone Tomahawk
When a group of cannibal savages kidnaps settlers from the small town of Bright Hope, an unlikely team of gunslingers, led by Sheriff Hunt (Kurt Russell), sets out to bring them home.
Starring: Kurt Russell, Patrick Wilson, Matthew Fox
Runtime: 2 hours, 12 minutes
My Thoughts
Western-horror mashups are a genre I need more of in my life, and Bone Tomahawk delivers on its premise of cowboys versus cannibals in spades.
As Sheriff Hunt, Kurt Russel leads a four-man squad into the hills to rescue the abducted wife of cowboy Arthur O’Dwyer (Patrick Wilson). Joined by O’Dwyer, Hunt’s Back Up Deputy, and sharpshooter John Brooder (Matthew Fox), the group is beset by O’Dwyer’s broken leg and a group of Mexican bandits who make off with their horses.
Bone Tomahawk is deliberately paced, lulling viewers into a false sense of security. When violence strikes, it comes in quick, rapid-fire bursts straight out of nowhere and provides enough shock to keep the viewer glued to the screen. In between are quiet interludes, oftentimes filled with witty banter that really help to personalize each of these characters. Russel, as expected, continues to be at the top of his game, and it was terrific fun to see him back in a western and bringing with him the same commanding authority that made him so iconic as Wyatt Earp in Tombstone.
Matthew Fox, however, was the big surprise for me here. His John Brooder is an interesting sort, his keen intellect setting him apart from, and in his own mind oftentimes above, the others. He’s smarter than everyone else and damn well knows it, and he’s quick with a rifle. When we first meet him he convinces the sheriff of his place on the group on account of the high number of Indians he has killed. When chided for boasting about such a thing, he deflects – it wasn’t a boast, merely a fact. He’s coldly analytical and consistently interesting when on screen.
The cannibal savages provide bookends to the narrative, but their presence in the finale catapults this western into the truly vicious, reminding viewers that this is a horror story cast in a Wild West mold. While their introduction at the film’s start is tense, it’s not until the last half-hour or so that we get a true taste of their intensity. I won’t spoil it, but these savages (or troglodytes in this movie’s parlance) are truly and wonderfully that, and screenwriter and director S. Craig Zahler rises above mere Native American stereotypes and into the otherworldly territory of the great unknown in the open wilds of the Old West. There’s gore aplenty, and the violent climax provides several scenes that are brutally wince-inducing.
Bone Tomahawk works as both a terrific western and as a haunting horror flick, with a top-notch cast that brings Zahler’s vision to life perfectly. Highly recommended.
Bone Tomahawk is available now on Amazon Prime and Blu-ray.
January 1, 2016
Books, Depression, and Writing: My 2016 Resolutions
I don’t often make New Year’s resolutions, but there’s a few things in my life that probably need changing if I’m going to try and be not only more effective in leading myself around in this world, but also happier.
Happiness is a big issue for me, as I’ve become keenly aware of over the last few months of being a new and sleep-deprived parent with an ever increasing temper. I suffer from depression, have, in fact, for quite a long while now and for the last two years or so I have been able to keep it mostly controlled with a prescribed medication called Lexapro. I haven’t written about this before, and I actually don’t think anyone, until now obviously, has really known about it beside my wife and doctors.
Some days are harder than others. I haven’t experienced truly crippling depression, the kind where I can’t even make it out of bed, although I’ve gotten close and my thinking process can get a touch dark and haywire at times. And if I’m not careful I could make (and have almost made) some pretty devastating choices regarding my interpersonal relationships simply because saying ‘fuck it’ seems much easier in the short term.
The medication helps, but there are still some proactive steps I need to take to ensure my own mental well-being. I’ve noticed over the last few months, particularly in the wake of our near-year-end shootings and the frothing hysteria of the far-right, anti-Obama, it’s-the-end-of-the-world, hooray-Biblical-Armageddon fear-monger types, that if I’m not careful I can let the world cripple me a little too easily. Thus, my first resolution of 2016:
Limit my use of Facebook. This is the big one. My top priority. It’s often advised that those who suffer from depression not watch the news. The endless stream of reportage on how awful the world is only helps to reinforce the depressive’s viewpoint that the world really does suck and that everything really is hopeless. This is a problem. Facebook only helps feed into this. As bad news circulates, friends, family, and followers begin chiming in across your social media platforms, interjecting their own viewpoints. Which would normally be fine, until you realize just how many of them are either ignorant, spiteful, hateful, and generators of filth and believers in nonsensical conspiracies, as their BS begins to overpower and drown out the more rational minded. Some are just talking to the wind, others are preaching to the choir. And if you disagree, those who have never commented or Liked anything you’ve posted in the past, are among the first to hop on board and remind you how stupid you are. Over the last few weeks there’s been some posting about how bad the insular nature of Facebook friends can be, as we tend to seek out those who are similar to us, particularly in the wake of posts calling for Trump supporters to unfriend non-Trump supporters, an act that, I must admit, I am guilty of. Some question why this is a necessity, and my response to that is, why, exactly, do I need to have all these homophobic, mysgonistic, xenophobic, racist bullshit posts capturing my eyeballs? Why is unfriending the asshats so bad? It’s just proof of the awful state of the (in this case, very limited) world, and for a depressive it’s likely better to not be seen or heard. As it stands, my timeline is often cluttered with these asinine, bullshit ‘1 Like = 1 Prayer” memes, worries about how Obama is coming to take our guns (he isn’t, hasn’t, and won’t), pro-Trump rhetoric, anti-Muslim rhetoric, All Brown People Are Terrorists rhetoric, anti-immigrant rhetoric, and…fuck, why are these people my friends and followers again? It sometimes gets more and more difficult to parse out why I associate with these people (even in the loosest sense possible). If anything positive can be drawn from it, then it’s that these people can at least serve as a good reminder of the type of people I desperately hope my son doesn’t grow into, and the type of person I do not want to be. Because, let’s face it, if either of us become so damaged that we’re willing to support a fascist for president, we’ve seriously lost it and I’ve failed as a parent and as a human being. Frankly, though, the bottom line is that I don’t need this crap in my life, and Facebook, or at least my particular Facebook feed, seems to have devolved into the unmoderated comments section of any given website. The central question is, is this something I need? Is there a positive net effect to being active on Facebook? And right now, I don’t think there is. It’s a time-hog, useful largely only for procrastinating when it’s not all about people telling me how I should feel bad about whatever their cause du jour may be, or why I should feel bad because they don’t like my cause of the moment (Internet protip: you can ever only care about one thing at any given time, and that one thing is determined by the most vociferous follower/friend/family member who barely interacts with you online or off). While I won’t be scrapping my Facebook account altogether, I must make a concerted effort to, at the very least, limit my use of it. I think I’ll also be unfollowing, possibly even unfriending, a good number of people for my own sanity (and also because it’s my Facebook page, and I can choose who is connected with it). So, there’s number one.
Write more. Writing makes me happy, and one of the best ways to stave off depression is to do things that make you feel good. 2015 was a bit of a banner year for me in terms of productivity. I wrote and published Emergence, appeared in three anthologies, and completed a new manuscript that should make its way to market sometime in 2016. I’ve also been invited to take part in a new anthology set for late spring/early summer release and have begun work on a new science fiction novel. Writing helps me cope in a lot of different ways, but it is also, first and foremost, a business. I’m a professional author and this helps me get food on the table and gas in my car, in addition to funding the release of my future projects. Or at least it would if I had enough sales to support myself and my family independently as a professional author (see #6 below). Hypothetically, the more I write, the more I can sell. Maybe 2016 will be the year I can good and truly test this claim, but there’s only one way to really know.
Read Less. Now this is a bold proclamation! Let me explain though. I’m a compulsive book buyer and a bit of a NetGalley addict, which means in addition to purchasing a large number of novels and ebooks, I also have an enormous stockpile of ARCs, or Advanced Reader Copies. Too many to read, in fact. So my goal for 2016 is to request less ARCs and work on catching up with the titles already on my Kindle. I want to put ARCs on the backburner entirely, sooner rather than later, so that I can focus on the incredible backlog of owned titles that are presently sitting in my ever-expanding digital To-Read pile. Forgive me for making a rather misleading claim with this one! The goal isn’t actually to read less, but to refocus my priority and to read less ARCs, and give my attention to books I already have. I love reading. However, I don’t love it when reading feels like a chore.
Read More. More non-fiction, in particular. While I have a whole ton of fiction and plenty of ARCs to get me through 2016 (and beyond!), I really need to peruse more non-fiction. For the last few years, in my annual reading round-ups, I’ve noted that non-fiction titles are a large deficiency in my reading habits, and this is something I want to address in the new year. I’ve got plenty of non-fiction titles on my Kindle, and a good number of them in my Audible wishlist; I just need to make more time to absorb them.
Buy Less Books! This is a huge, huge, huge issue for me. I’m a compulsive reader, and, almost by default, a compulsive book buyer. I do recognize that psychologically, there is a certain satisfaction that comes with one-clicking a Kindle title and having it appear almost instantly on my tablet. This got out of hand in 2015, and with a three month old vying for household resources and attention, I must be much more conscious of budgetary needs and buy way less books. As it stands currently, I have an enormous backlog of titles both bought and in ARC form. I also signed up for a library card a few months ago, and it’s high-time I started using it. My local library has a pretty good digital collection, so I can score plenty of free reads – a number of which have populated my Amazon wish list in hopes of a price drop – without even leaving the house. It also makes it that much easier to balk at the asinine purchase price the Big 5 publishing houses tag most of their ebooks with, selling titles for the same cost as a hardcover novel and many times for more than the paperback version. This became a source of frustration in 2015 when I wanted to buy John Scalzi’s Lock In for my Kindle, which cost around $9 whereas Amazon was discounting the paperback down to, at one point, less than $5. I refuse to pay $15 or more for an ebook. And I won’t buy an ebook that costs more than the paperback, which means if I want it right then and there on my Kindle, I won’t be buying that book period. After perusing my local library’s digital collections, I’ve found a terrific way to continue reading my favorite authors and titles of particular interest without breaking the bank. And for those bemoaning me with “But $15 isn’t a lot of money,” well, no, in the grand scheme things of it’s not, and if I only bought a single title a year maybe I could excuse it. But I’m practically a bulk shopper. And with a three month old in the house, $15 is half a container of formula – so if I have to choose between buying the next Clancy or keeping my baby healthy, it’s a no brainer. Also, I have to save up money for publishing my own titles and hawking my own wares in 2016! The local library and the Kindle Owners Lending Library are most certainly the way to go from here on out!
Worry Less About Other Writers. Writing is a business, but fellow writers are not competition. We’re all in this together. This resolution is all about trying to not compare myself to the success of others – I can certainly try to reach the same level of success my friends have achieved, but I also need to not berate myself over my own (perceived) failures. So far my work has been fairly well received by critics and readers, but sales are lackluster. Sometimes in talking about this business with my writer buds, they’ll lament about how they’re “only” getting 50 sales a day, and I just sort of cry into my beer wishing I were getting even 50 sales a month. What am I doing wrong? Do I really suck that badly? Is my work uninteresting, dopey shit? Are people finding my work? Or do they maybe discover it and just ignore it? Why? What am I doing wrong? It gets to be a cyclical bit of recrimination, and in the nature of cyclical things, this resolution points a bit toward resolution #1. While I certainly do not want to limit contact with other writers, I do want to limit my own feelings of failure and inadequacy. Some of this can be addressed by writing more and putting more work out there, opening up my chances of discoverability even wider. I was invited into several anthologies over the course of 2015 and was tapped for another one set for 2016, so I maybe don’t suck that badly. But still, I’m not getting any movie or TV deals; my stories don’t debut at #1 and their staying power is ridiculously short lived. Sales come in tiny spurts, one or two a week if I’m lucky. Clearly, I am so very much not an insta-best-seller like several of my author friends, and while I celebrate their success and am truly happy for them and immensely proud of them and their work, there’s a part that stings. I’m not owed a single goddamn thing – I realize this. I also realize that my feelings are nothing more than petty envy. I need to stop wishing for success and figure out a wait to earn it. Maybe success will come, or at least a modicum of success, and maybe it won’t. Until then, I need to stop worrying about it and remind myself that I’m just not there yet. It’ll happen one day. Maybe this resolution should have been titled Quit Being So Fucking Insecure. Yeah, that’s a bit more accurate…
So, there you have it. My resolutions, coupled with a peek at my damaged, scarred psyche. What are you big resolutions for 2016?
December 31, 2015
2015 Reading Challenge Roundup
For historical purposes you can find the 2013 Reading Challenge Roundup here and 2014 Reading Challenge Roundup over here.
2015 is easily a high-water mark for me in terms of books read, and I was consuming titles left and right with nary a break in between. As with last year, I set my Goodreads Reading Challenge goal to 50 books and hit that mark near the end of June. If you want a really quick overview of my 2015, you can check out My Year In Books over at Goodreads. However, I have a few discrepancies with Goodreads bookkeeping for My Year In Books – IT was an audiobook and I take exception with its page-count being levied toward my longest book. Rather, I’ve taken data from my Goodreads Stats for 2015 to compile the below, which I believe is more accurate (although I suspect there are page count tallies missing from a number of titles).
The Stats
Number of books read: 117
Number of pages read: 23, 574
Longest book read: Apex by Ramez Naam (608 pages)
Shortest book read: The Naughty List by Edward Lorn (10 pages)
Audiobooks listened to: 11
The Ratings
5-star reads: 39 books
4-star reads: 56 books
3-star reads: 13 books
2-star reads: 9 books
1-star reads: 0 books
The Trends
2015 saw a lot of books read, and a handful of titles listened to. This accounts for the 100+ books consumed this year. Although there was a significant increase in books read over 2014’s 86 books, there were actually less pages read. I can think of two reasons for this. First, I started listening to audiobooks, which, obviously, don’t have pages but rather hours. I may have to calculate listening time next year, but will pass on doing the legwork this time around. Second, I read a large number of shorter novels and novellas, most of them from DarkFuse.
As usual, horror was my go-to genre for the year. In previous years, I parsed out the details a bit more, crunching the numbers to figure out how many titles came from what genres. I’m not doing that this year, simply because so many titles were cross-genre affairs. This makes breaking down genre details a bit difficult, as books like the now-defunct Apocalypse Weird series straddle the horror and science-fiction border, as does Nicholas Sansbury Smith’s Extinction Cycle series.
Things like non-fiction are easier to classify, if not just as broad, but sadly I only made time for two such titles this years (something I need to correct in 2016, a lament I seem to make every year…). There were only a handful of mystery/thriller titles, but even some of those broached into horror. If we’re looking at pure mystery/thriller stuff, I read only a couple of those.
Science-fiction was a fairly big draw for me this year, though, and was my second most widely read genre of 2015. One of these titles, Ramez Naam’s Apex was this year’s longest book, and a number of the authors I read in this field were new to me. The big standout was Linda Nagata’s The Red trilogy. I managed to listen to the first two in audiobook format and was blown away. In short, I absolutely loved that series thus far and will be giving the third book a listen in 2016.
Speaking of audiobooks, I finally hopped on the earbud bandwagon in the back-half of 2015! I’ll discuss this in more depth below, but it didn’t take me too long to become a big fan of Audible. While I only listened to 11 audiobooks this year, I fully expect this number to increase in 2016.
In terms of authors, this past year introduced me to a number of writers I had not read previously. After having previously vowed to read Clive Barker’s works, I finally listened to The Hellbound Heart. Myke Cole had been on my to-read list as well, and I was really enraptured with his Gemini Cell book earlier this year. I also read Margaret Atwood for the first time this year, along with Nick Cole, Michael Bunker, and a number of indies like Christopher Pourteau, Jennifer Ellis, E.E. Giorgi, David Bruns, and several more.
Keith Deininger was my most-read author of 2015 with five titles, three of which came from his new self-published The Godgame series, while the other two (The Hallow and Within) were DarkFuse releases. Within even made it on my Top 10 list! Chuck Wendig came in second, but it was a close call and given how prolific the man is it’s not much of a surprise to see his name here. I read four titles by him (Atlanta Burns, Star Wars: Aftermath, The Harvest, and Zer0es), and bought a fifth book, The Hellsblood Bride, that I wasn’t able to squeeze in before year’s end. Ania Ahlborn also had a very productive year with three new releases. Craig Saunders, Daniel Arthur Smith, Hunter Shea, Linda Nagata, Nicholas Sansbury Smith, Tim Curran, and William Meikle were also widely read with three books each.
Since buying a Kindle in the tail-end of 2013, ebooks have been my go-to staple for reading material, and with audiobooks now pinging very loudly on my radar, 2015 was very much a year for digital books. I honestly don’t see this changing too much in 2016, but one can never tell. And although I consumed only digital materials this year, that didn’t stop me from buying physical books after having bought zero dead tree stories in 2014.
New in 2015
Print Returns
One big change from last year is my return to obtaining physical books, albeit in very select, very limited fashion. I was kind of proud of not buying any print books at all in 2014, but there were a few enticing items to cross my radar this year, particularly as I look ahead to redoing my home office and getting some respectable book shelving set up (a project that may actually still be a few years off from happening…). I wanted a few good display pieces. So, although my actual reading was done entirely via Kindle, I snagged a few dead trees editions mostly through giveaways and the rare purchase. The biggest of these buys was IDW’s deluxe signed edition of Joe Hill’s NOS4A2/Wraith, which I ordered through Dark Regions Press and is expected to ship in Jan/Feb 2016. I loved NOS4A2 when I read it upon its release in 2013, and in keeping an eye toward display potential this one was too cool to pass up.
I also sprung for the UK edition of Clive Barker’s latest release, The Scarlet Gospels, just because that cover art is freaking amazing! This one will definitely get some front-facing treatment in the future.
Also purchased was Jeff VanderMeer’s Area X: The Southern Reach Trilogy collected into a single hardcover volume. I also picked up the recent Stephen King hardcover releases, Joyland (Illustrated Edition), Mr. Mercedes, Finders Keepers, Revival, and The Bazaar of Bad Dreams. I was a member of the Stephen King Library way back when and built up a solid collection of hardcover titles (possibly all of his hardcover releases, but I’d need to double check…), and it seemed like a shame to not have his recent output after having so many decades worth of his work. I’d guess that from this point forward, he’ll be one of the few authors that I will routinely buy in print rather than digital (or both simply to have the Kindle copy for reading, and the hardcover version for the physical library).
I also bought the latest Mitch Rapp novel, The Survivor, penned by Kyle Mills, who takes over for Vince Flynn in the wake of Flynn’s death in 2013. Honestly, the only reason I bought this one in hardcover was because the pricing was virtually – and stupidly – identical between the Kindle copy and the hardcover edition at the time of its release. I guess the Big Publishers haven’t learned much in the wake of being hit by an antitrust suit, whereas I’ve learned not to pay exorbitant amounts for an ebook and to wait for a good sale instead. But, I digress. Speaking of a good sale, though, I was able to snag a copy of Dennis Lehane’s latest, A World Gone By, along with George Pelecanos’ The Tunraround, both in hardcover, from my local library for a whopping total of three dollars.
On the giveaway’s front, I was able to get a signed copy of Nick Cole’s Soda Pop Soldier, a copy of Aniah Ahlborn’s Brother, and Tim Lebbon’s The Silence, all in paperback. I also won an advanced copy of The Gods of H.P. Lovecraft anthology, which has a nice silky smooth matte finish. On the hardcover front, I won copies of R.S. Belcher’s Nightwise and Simon Toyne’s The Searcher. And as a member of the DarkFuse Book Club, I was rewarded with two hardcovers, William Meikle’s The Exiled, and Lee Thompson’s A Beautiful Madness.
So, not too shabby all in all, I don’t think.
Audiobooks
While buying books certainly was not new to me by any means, listening to audiobooks certainly was!
For many years, perhaps foolishly or perhaps stubbornly, I considered myself a bit of a purist and a book snob. I shunned ebooks for quite a while, before being won over by their more practical aspects and portability, and have even grown to prefer digital over physical. I eschewed audio because the whole point of reading a book was to read a book, not listen to it. When I read, I can give voice to the characters in my own head instead of being trapped by a narrator’s voice and style. Also, I never particularly liked being read to, which is likely the fault of too many boring English instructors that riddled my public education.
Audiobooks won my favor this year, though, primarily thanks to word of mouth from a few friends. Writer bud Lucas Bale began chatting up audiobooks to me, as he was listening to a few during his daily walks while immersing himself in his own audiobook production of The Heretic. A few others recommended me a few audiobooks, but the news that really sealed the deal was the then-forthcoming release of Audible’s production of Joe Hill’s graphic novel series, Locke & Key. Being a big fan of Hill and his father, Stephen King, along with a few recommendations in my pocket, I decided to give Audible a shot and got the narrated edition of IT. And jumping Jupiter, that is one glorious audiobook production. Actor Steven Weber freaking knocks it out of the park, turning King’s book into a 44 hour long one-man show. The dude fucking performs on this one, big time. Simply put, it’s an amazing listen.
I’ll note here that this is also the second time in my life that Stephen King has really turned me around. After too many stuffy English lit courses nearly killed my love of books, IT saved me and showed me wonder. After doubting the power of narrated books, IT and Steven Weber proved me wrong. So very, very wrong. I was riveted by Weber’s performance for weeks, listening as this story that I adored became something even more special. I was officially a believer in audiobooks and have listened to a number since then, including Locke & Key, which was freaking fantastic and stocked to the brim with 50-plus voice actors.
It’s safe to say I am now fully on the audiobook bandwagon.
On to 2016!
Will 2016 be the year I finally read The Martian (hey, at least I managed to see the movie! [which was excellent, by the way]), or The Expanse series now that it’s a TV show (which I haven’t seen any of yet)? Who knows. I’ve blithely, and wrongly, predicted the titles that were sure to capture my time in the coming new year and it’s getting a bit ridiculous to be so wrong. Yes, these are all on my Kindle, and no, I have no idea when I’ll get to them. As I do every year, I’ll at least try to approach them, but it all depends on my moods and interests.
One thing that I do need to make a concerted effort toward is reading more non-fiction. That’s one of my big goals for 2016 (I’ll discuss a few more in another blog post soon), and I have plenty of non-fiction titles to pick from, including a few review copies from NetGalley.
The plan is to not make any real plans for 2016. I’ll focus on getting through my NetGalley review queue, try and make a dent in my TBR pile, and focus on reading what I want when I want. And the first book up will be The Survivor (A Mitch Rapp Novel) by Kyle Mills!
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
