Year in Review: 2015

‘Tis the season for lists, yes? And mine at this time of year, they’re always skewed by my terrible recall—the books and films &etc that just happened always seem to get higher billing. Still, in an effort to be even-handed, I did scroll back a few places, just to refresh, refresh (that’s a story joke) (which is hilarious), and here’s where I land, more or less. This time with pictures, and, yes, this time including books by friends, because, I mean, a lot of them write some pretty excellent stuff: Solid Novels               I put Paul Tremblay’s A Head Full of Ghosts up backwards because this blurb-set will, on the trade paperback, get way eclipsed by a certain Stephen King blurb, I suspect. And, Dare Me: this was my third read of it, I think? And it still hits me just right. Was it on my list last year too? (nope; no excuse) And, Skullcrack City, man. Here‘s my original write-up. And, Joshua Gaylord’s When We Were Animals. I’m working on a theory that he wrote this book especially for me. That there’s a way to decode the dedication such that it actually says for Stephen, who needs this story. One of the most intense werewolf stories I’ve read. Which is maybe saying something, since there aren’t really any werewolves in it. I never would have stumbled onto this one if not for Paul Tremblay, either (he also turned me on to Murcheston: the Wolf’s Tale, which I verymuch like, now). Which is to say:  . . . → → →