Continuing the monthly summaries of what I’ve been reading and listening to. This month’s numbers are a little higher than should be accurate, because three of the anthologies I proofread/copy-edited earlier in the spring finally came out, so I can include them (and the stories in them) in this month’s counts.
BOOKS
To keep my numbers consistent with what I have listed on Goodreads, I count completed magazine issues as “books.” I read or listened to 16 books in July: 12 in print, 2 in e-book format, and 2 in audio format. They were:
1. Lightspeed Magazine #122 (July, 2020 issue), edited by John Joseph Adams. The usual fine assortment of sf and fantasy short stories. This month’s favorites for me were Tochi Onyebuchi’s “Zen and the Art of an Android Beatdown, or Cecile Meets a Boxer: A Love Story,” Ray Nayler’s “The Swallows of the Storm,” Kiiri Ibura Salaam’s “Rosamojo,” Mari Ness’s “Great Gerta and the Mermaid” and Christina Ten’s “Baba Yaga and the Seven Hills.”
2. The Second Star by Alma Alexander. Alexander’s latest novel starts out as a mystery, when a lost starship returns with a startlingly altered crew. But it goes well beyond that trope. Full Review HERE.
3. Ignorance Is Strength (The Dystopia Triptych Volume 1) edited by John Joseph Adams, Hugh Howey, and Christie Yant. Full disclosure: I proofread/copy-edited this trilogy of anthologies. I recommend buying all three and following each author’s story arc across books. They’re all wonderful, but I was most captivated by those written by Seanan McGuire, Carrie Vaughn, Merc Fenn Wolfmoor, Caroline M. Yoachim, Tobias S. Buckell, Alex Irvine, and An Owomoyela.
4. Burn The Ashes (The Dystopia Triptych Volume 2) edited by John Joseph Adams, Hugh Howey, and Christie Yant.
5. Or Else the Light (The Dystopia Triptych Volume 3) edited by John Joseph Adams, Hugh Howey, and Christie Yant.
6. Flyaway by Kathleen Jennings. A rural fantasy fever-dream set in the outback. FULL REVIEW HERE.
7. Lumberjanes Volume 14: X Marks the Spot by Shannon Watters, Kat Leyh, Dozerdraws, Maarta Laiho, and others. This time, the Roanoke cabin girls follow a treasure map and find a broken statue that turns out to be a vindictive ancient Grecian monster. A fun, fast adventure.
8. A Spectral Hue by Craig Laurance Gidney. Gidney’s Lovecraftian mid-Atlantic Gothic novel explores the power of muses and the transformative nature of art.
9. The Gown of Harmonies by Francesca Forrest. A really brilliant novella about a blind seamstress and the dangerous deal she makes with a faerie. Bonus points: the audiobook is narrated by C.S.E. Cooney, whose style is just perfect for this very mannered, deeply emotional tale.
10. Fence Volume 4: Rivals by C.S. Pacat, Johanna the Mad and Joanna LaFuente. With the school fencing team roster set, the boys face off against their school’s arch-rivals in a pre-season match. Another fun installment.
11. Malcolm and Me by Ishmael Reed. One of my few recent non-fiction listens. Reed’s life course was altered by his first interview and subsequent encounters with Malcolm X.
12. Peace Talks by Jim Butcher. After a several year hiatus, Butcher returns to Harry Dresden. I liked the book, but it felt incomplete. It’s not the first time Butcher has used a Dresden book to “move the chess pieces around” to set up the next book, but it is the first time he’s given us a book where so many major plots are introduced and almost none of them are resolved. The next book, which presumably will wrap up some of them, comes out in the fall. (And yes, I’m aware Peace Talks and Battle Ground were originally meant to be one book. It’s still disappointing how much was left dangling.)
13. Anthems Outside Time and Other Strange Voices by Kenneth Schneyer. A really stellar collection of Schneyer’s genre-bending and tradition-breaking short stories.
14. Aftermath of an Industrial Accident: Stories by Mike Allen. I’ve described Allen’s most recent novella as a “masterful mind-fuck,” and that appellation could easily apply to a number of the stories in this collection. Full Review HERE.
15. Unhallowed (Rath and Rune, Book 1) by Jordan L. Hawk. Hawk’s “Whyborne and Griffin” series may be over, but the author isn’t done with the city of Widdershins just yet. This new series focuses on the Librarians of the Ladysmith Museum, and a new set of cosmic horrors threaten to destroy the world. Really great first installment, and an intriguing new gay couple to root for.
16. The Terrifics Volume 2: Tom Strong and the Terrifics by Jeff Lemire, Dale Eaglesham, Viktor Bogdanovic, Joe Bennett, and others. The art feels a little inconsistent in this volume, but the story feels really solid. The Terrifics bounce around the Multiverse, break up, and reform.
STORIES
I have a goal of reading 366 short stories (1 per day, essentially, although it doesn’t always work out that way) this year (366 because it’s a Leap Year). Here’s what I read this month and where you can find them if you’re interested in reading them too. If no source is noted, the story is from the same magazine or book as the story(ies) that precede(s) it. (NOTE: The Dystopia Triptych anthologies are the books I copy-edited several months ago, but couldn’t list the story contents until the books were published in July. So this list catches me up for the year, but I didn’t actually read all of these stories in the month of July.)
1. “Zen and the Art of an Android Beatdown, Or Cecile Meets a Boxer: A Love Story” by Tochi Onyebuchi, from Lightspeed Magazine #122 (July 2020 issue), edited by John Joseph Adams.
2. “The End of the World Measured in Values of N” by Adam-Troy Castro
3. “The Blue Fairy’s Manifesto” by Annalee Newitz
4. “The Swallows of the Storm” by Ray Nayler
5. “Baba Yaga and the Seven Hills” by Kristina Ten
6. “A Siege of Cranes” by Benjamin Rosenbaum
7. “Great Gerta and the Mermaid” by Mari Ness
8. “Rosamojo” by Kiina Ibura Salaam
9. “Ratting” by Seanan McGuire, on the author’s Patreon page.
10. “The Department of Talent Resources” by Carrie Vaughn, from The Dystopia Triptych Vol 1: Ignorance is Strength, edited by John Joseph Adams, Hugh Howey and Christie Yant.
11. “Glasslands” by Tim Pratt
12. “Animals Like Me” by Rich Larson
13. “Glass Houses” by Cadwell Turnbull
14. “Lyceum” by Karin Lowachee
15. “The Truth About the Boy” by Adam-Troy Castro
16. “The Shadow Prison Experiment” by Caroline M. Yoachim
17. “Inheritors” by Hugh Howey
18. “The Oracle of Exile” by An Owomoyela
19. “Opt-In” by Seanan McGuire
20. “One Thousand Beetles in a Jumpsuit” by Domenica Phettleplace
21. “Red Sky At Morning” by Alex Irvine
22. “Idle Hands” by Tobias S. Buckell
23. “The Love” by Scott Sigler
24. “The Orphan of Greenridge” by Darcie Little Badger
25. “Mister Dawn, How Can You Be So Cruel?” by Violet Allen
26. “Trust in the Law, For the Law Trusts in You” by Merc Fenn Wolfmoor
27. “Keep Your Streak Going!” by Carrie Vaughn, from The Dystopia Triptych Vol 2: Burn the Ashes, edited by John Joseph Adams, Hugh Howey and Christie Yant.
28. “Cacophany” by Tim Pratt
29. “Our Lady of Perpetual Disdain” by Rich Larson
30. “Sand Castles” by Cadwell Turnbull
31. “Survival Guide” by Karin Lowachee
32. “The Proscribed Words” by Adam-Troy Castro
33. “Shadow Prisons of the Mind” by Caroline M. Yoachim
34. “Inheritors of the Curse” by Hugh Howey
35. “You Cannot Push Back the Sky” by An Owomoyela
36. “Conscription” by Seanan McGuire
37. “Paradise Requires A Wall” by Domenica Phettleplace
38. “Print the Legend” by Alex Irvine
39. “The Fruits of their Labor” by Tobias S. Buckell
40. “The Hate” by Scott Sigler
41. “How to Use Your Visor Evacuation Helper to Escape an Active War Zone” by Darcie Little Badger
42. “Our Motto: Do Not Wake Up” by Violet Allen
43. “Believe in the Law, For the Law is All” by Merc Fenn Wolfmoor
44. “You Have Been Crowdfunded” by Carrie Vaughn, from The Dystopia Triptych Vol 3: Or Else the Light, edited by John Joseph Adams, Hugh Howey and Christie Yant.
45. “Spheres and Harmonies” by Tim Pratt
46. “Failsafe” by Rich Larson
47. “Dresses” by Cadwell Turnbull
48. “Sakura” by Karin Lowachee
49. “Blood Relations” by Adam-Troy Castro
50. “The Shadow Prisoner’s Dilemma” by Caroline M. Yoachim
51. “Inheritors of the Earth” by Hugh Howey
52. “A Foreign-Born Heir” by An Owomoyela
53. “Recovery” by Seanan McGuire
54. “Human Country” by Domenica Phettleplace
55. “Blackberries” by Alex Irvine
56. “The Machine Votes” by Tobias S. Buckell
57. “The Sadness & Joy” by Scott Sigler
58. “Making Faces” by Darcie Little Badger
59. “Why Can’t I Sleep a Little Longer?” by Violet Allen
60. “The Law is the Plan, the Plan is Death” by Merc Fenn Wolfmoor
61. “Some Pebbles in the Palm” by Kenneth Schneyer, from his collection Anthems Outside Time and Other Strange Voices
62. “Hear the Enemy, My Daughter” by Kenneth Schneyer
63. “Living in the Niche” by Kenneth Schneyer
64. “The Mannequin’s Itch” by Kenneth Schneyer
65. “Lineage” by Kenneth Schneyer
66. “Keepsakes” by Kenneth Schneyer
67. “The Last Bombardment” by Kenneth Schneyer
68. “Confinement” by Kenneth Schneyer
69. “Serkers and Sleep” by Kenneth Schneyer
70. “I Have Read the Terms of Use” by Kenneth Schneyer
71. “The Age of Three Stars” by Kenneth Schneyer
72. “Keeping Tabs” by Kenneth Schneyer
73. “Selected Program Notes from the Retrospective Exhibition of Theresa Rosenberg Latimer” by Kenneth Schneyer
74. “The Plausibility of Dragons” by Kenneth Schneyer
75. “Calibration” by Kenneth Schneyer
76. “Levels of Observation” by Kenneth Schneyer
77. “Who Embodied What We Are” by Kenneth Schneyer
78. “Tenure Track” by Kenneth Schneyer
79. “The Sisters’ Line” by Liz Argall & Kenneth Schneyer
80. “A Lack of Congenial Solutions” by Kenneth Schneyer
81. “Life of the Author Plus Seventy” by Kenneth Schneyer
82. “You in the United States!” by Kenneth Schneyer
83. “The Whole Truth Witness” by Kenneth Schneyer
84. “I Wrung It in a Weary Land” by Kenneth Schneyer
85. “Six Drabbles of Separation” by Kenneth Schneyer
86. “Dispersion” by Kenneth Schneyer
87. “Six Waking Nightmares Poe Gave Me in Third Grade” by Mike Allen, from his collection Aftermath of an Industrial Nightmare: Stories.
88. “The Sun Saw” by Mike Allen
89. “A Deaf Policeman Heard the Noise” by Mike Allen
90. “Tick Flick” by Mike Allen
91. “The Cruelest Team Will Win” by Mike Allen
92. “Tardigrade” by Mike Allen
93. “Burn the Kook Kidz at the Stake” by Mike Allen
94. “Longsleeves” by Mike Allen
95. “Binding” by Mike Allen
96. “Nolens Volens” by Mike Allen
97. “Blue Evolution” by Mike Allen
98. “The Ivy-Smothered Palisade” by Mike Allen
99. “With Shining Gifts That Took All Eyes” by Mike Allen
100. “The Sun Saw” by Mike Allen
101. “Follow The Wounded One” by Mike Allen
102. “Drift From the Windrows” by Mike Allen
103. “Aftermath of an Industrial Accident” by Mike Allen
So that’s 103 short stories in July. Way over “1 per day,” catching me up for the year so far and actually putting me slightly ahead. (July 30th was the 213th day of 2020.)
Summary of Reading Challenges:
“To Be Read” Challenge: This month: 0 read; YTD: 3 of 14 read.
366 Short Stories Challenge: This month: 103 read; YTD: 236 of 366 read.
Graphic Novels Challenge: This month: 3 read; YTD: 13 of 52 read.
Goodreads Challenge: This month: 16 read; YTD: 77 of 125 read.
Non-Fiction Challenge: This month: 1 read; YTD: 7 of 24 read.
Read the Book / Watch the Movie Challenge: This month: 0; YTD: 0 read/watched.
Complete the Series Challenge: This month: 0 books read; YTD: 6 of 16 read.
Series fully completed: 0 of 3 planned
Monthly Special Challenge: July was a month away from special challenges so I could try to play catch up. I increased my graphic novel and non-fiction numbers (if slightly), and read a lot of short stories (even if we unofficially dis-count the three anthologies I’d read pre-publication several months ago). Not a perfect catch-up, but far better than the preceding two months.
In August, I was supposed to be attending Pulpfest/Farmercon. Pandemic put a stopper on that, but I’m still making August’s challenge “pulp and new-pulp adventure/horror/etc.” I also have several ARCs to read of books coming out in September. So that’s two mini-challenges!