Earlier than previous years, here’s my media round-up for 2019: what I wrote, what was published, and what I read, listened to, and watched.
WRITING
Not much to report on this front. 2019 was not a good year for creating new content. I didn’t track what little writing I actually managed to do – but I know there were more days where I didn’t write than there were days I wrote, by far. I’m considering it a “recharging” year, as I consumed and processed a lot of wonderful (and not-so-wonderful) books, television, movies, live theatre and music events. The writing I did manage was mostly work on previous unfinished short stories.
PUBLISHING
2019 saw the publication of one short story:
“Regardless of How Lost You Are Returning From, Regardless of How Far” appeared in Kaleidotrope magazine, edited by Fred Coppersmith
I also wrote a six paid book reviews for Strange Horizons magazine, and one for Out In Print (non-paid):
· So You Want To Be A Robot: 21 Stories by A. Merc Rustad
· Friday Black: Stories by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
· Forget The Sleepless Shore: Stories by Sonya Taaffe
· The Hidden Witch by Molly Ostertag
· Sealed by Naomi Booth
· The History of Soul 2065 by Barbara Krasnoff
· Of Echoes Born by ‘Nathan Burgoine (Out in Print)
READING
I set myself a variety of reading challenges in 2019. I managed to complete a few of them.
Goodreads Challenge:
I challenged myself to read 125 books. I read 144 books from approximately 73 different publishers.
Here’s the breakdown of what I read:
Fiction: 140 books
6 anthologies
1 crime
1 horror
1 romance
1 fantasy
1 science fiction
1 mixed-genre
12 single-author collections
3 science fiction
3 horror
2 fantasy
2 crime/mystery
2 poetry
33 graphic novels
8 super-hero
4 horror
12 fantasy
1 crime
2 pulp adventure
2 romance
12 magazines (all issues of Lightspeed magazine)
40 novels
8 crime
3 horror
1 thriller
1 mystery
6 Fantasy
8 science fiction
3 paranormal romance
4 urban fantasy
1 romance
3 pulp adventure
1 suspense
1 mythology
1 Christmas
34 novellas
11 horror
5 fantasy
4 romance
7 literary
4 pulp adventure
1 science fiction
1 crime
1 Christmas
2 novelettes
1 fantasy
1 horror
Non-Fiction: 8 books
2 Memoir
1 History
1 literary analysis
Other Book Stats:
# of Authors/Editors: approximately 136 (including graphic novel artists; I need to be better at listing all of the creators of graphic novels somehow). The following breakdown is estimated because not every author shares their personal information online, but roughly:
· 39 female creators
· 5 Trans/Non-Binary
· 29 LGBTQIA+
· 10 Persons of Color
Shortest Book Read: 25 pages (Christmas with the Dead by Joe Lansdale)
Longest Book Read: 669 (Upon A Burning Throne by Ashok K.Banker)
Total # of pages read: 25,513
Average # of pages per book: 205
# of Rereads: 6 (including annual rereads of Roger Zelazny’s A Night in the Lonesome October and Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol)
Monthly Breakdown:
· January: 11
· February: 18 (most read in a month)
· March: 14
· April: 7 (fewest read in a month)
· May: 11
· June: 10
· July: 8
· August: 14
· September: 11
· October: 15
· November: 13
· December: 13
Review-wise on Goodreads I gave 2 two-star reviews, 21 three-stars, 86 four-stars, and 35 five-star reviews.
Format Summary:
17 audiobooks
31 ebooks
96 print
25 hardcovers
71 softcovers
365 Short Stories Challenge:
Each year, I challenge myself to read one short story per day. I read 401 stories in 2019, beating the goal handily. The shortest was approximately 7 pages and the longest approximately 61. Those 401 stories appeared in:
12 Magazines
Nightmare
Lightspeed
The Dark
One Story
Analog
The Strand
Interzone
Lamplight
Black Static
Abyss & Apex
One Teen Story
Uncanny
9 Anthologies
Resist Fascism
From Sea to Stormy Sea
If This Goes On
A Secret Guide to Fighting Elder Godds
The Many Tortures of Anthony Cardno
Fool For Love
F is for Fairy
At Home in the Dark
Devil Take Me
15 Single-Author Collections
The Assimilated Cuban’s Guide to Quantum Physics by Carlos Hernandez
The Time Machine and Other Stories by H.G. Wells
Three Blind Mice and Other Stories by Agatha Christie
Beyond the Farthest Star by Edgar Rice Burroughs
Untranslatable by Alma Alexander
Hunt the Avenger by Win Scott Eckert
Trans Space Octopus Convention by Bogi Takacs
Oriental Ghost Stories by Lafcadio Hearn
Spinning Around A Sun by Everett Maroon
A History of Soul 2065 by Barbara Krasnoff
Acres of Perhaps by Will Ludwigsen
Under the Sunset by Bram Stoker
Two Todd Tales by Joseph Pittman
In Re: Sherlock Holmes by August Derleth
Forget the Sleepless Shores by Sonya Taaffe
5 published as “back-matter” in the following novels
If Dragon’s Mass Eve Be Cold and Clear
Ms. Tree: One Mean Mother
Rosemary and Rue 10th Anniversary Hardcover Edition
That Ain’t Witchcraft
The Unkindest Tide
16 Stand-alone (self-pubbed or publisher-pubbed in e-format)
Seanan McGuire (Patreon)
Lucy Snyder (Patreon)
Sabrina Vourvoulias (Cast of Wonders audio podcast)
Lydia M. Hawke (author website)
Jim Butcher (Evil Hat website)
Those 401 stories were written by 232 different authors. The following breakdown is estimated because not every author shares their personal information online, but roughly:
· 104 female creators
· 6 Trans/Non-Binary
· 33 LGBTQIA+
· 32 Persons of Color
I gave 13 two-star ratings, 208 three-star, 157 four-star, and 23 five-star ratings. The shortest story was 7 pages long and the longest 61.
Graphic Novel Challenge:
Because I own so many, I challenged myself to read one graphic novel per week. I didn’t make it, reading a total of 33 from 11 different publishers:
· DC Comics: 7
· Marvel Comics: 8
· BOOM! Box: 8
· Dynamite Comics: 2
· Image Comics: 2
· Hard Case Crime: 1
· TO Comix: 1
· Scholastic Books: 1
· Panic Button Comics: 1
· Dark Horse: 1
· Self-Pubbed: 1
Non-Fiction Challenge: I didn’t do as well on this one. I challenged myself to read 24 non-fiction books in 2019, and I only read 4.
Read the Book, Watch the Movie Challenge: Completely bombed this one. Planned to do at least 10 of these and did 0.
Complete the Series Challenge: Bombed this one too. Planned to read 3 complete series, totally 16 books, and read 0 of 16, completing 0 series.
VIEWING
I tried tracking the movies, TV and live events I watched this year. Here’s how that went:
Movies: Apparently, I only watched 17 movies this year. (I suspect I forgot to enter a few things into the database.)
· 9 on DVD
· 2 on Netflix
· 6 in the theater
Live Events: I attended 15 live events this year.
· 10 plays
6 straight plays (4 on Broadway, 2 high school, one attended twice)
4 musicals (1 Broadway, 1 regional, 2 high school)
· 4 concerts (Dennis DeYoung, Greyson Chance, Blue Alien Mystic, and the Mahopac High School Pacapellas)
Television: I watched approximately 162 hours of episodic television:
· Arrow (20 episodes)
· Batwoman (9 episodes)
· Beyond Stranger Things (7 episodes)
· Black Mirror (2 episodes)
· Doctor Who (1 episode)
· The Flash (21 episodes)
· Game of Thrones (1 episode)
· Good Omens (6 episodes)
· Great Performances (1 episode)
· DC’s Legends of Tomorrow (9 episodes)
· Planet of the Apes (14 episodes)
· Stranger Things (25 episodes)
· Supergirl (22 episodes)
· The Big Bang Theory (2 episodes)
· Vera (1 episode)
· Vicious (14 episodes)
· Watchmen (6 episodes)
· Young Sheldon (1 episode)
So there you have it: my writing, publishing, reading, and viewing by the numbers, for 2019.
Earlier this week, I posted about my reading challenges for 2020. I plan to post about my writing plans, and possibly viewing plans, next week.